Your Guide to High Blood Pressure

Transcription

1 Your Guide to

2 The Bon Secours Heart Team focuses on your complete cardiovascular care. It s our goal to help you be well. An important part of your heart health is maintaining a healthy blood pressure level. Use this guide, and turn to your care team to help you achieve and maintain healthy blood pressure. What is? The medical name for high blood pressure is hypertension. Blood pressure measures the force your blood makes when it pumps against the walls of your arteries. If the force is too high, it can make your heart work too hard and harden your arteries, which increases the risk of heart disease. What Causes? For many people, doctors can t identify a single, specific cause of high blood pressure. This is called essential or primary HBP. When a medical problem or medication is known to cause high blood pressure, it s called secondary HBP. It s very important that you let your doctor know of any medications you re taking, in case they could contribute to your high blood pressure. More than half of the U.S. population over the age of 60 has high blood pressure. African Americans tend to be more prone than other groups. Your chances of getting HBP increase if: You are overweight You are a man over the age of 45 You are a woman over the age of 55 You have a family history of HBP You have blood pressure in the pre-hypertension range of /less than 80 Blood pressure can rise for other reasons that include: Eating too much salt Drinking too much alcohol Not getting enough potassium Lack of physical activity Taking certain medicines Smoking Stress

3 Why is it Important to Get Blood Pressure Checked? High blood pressure usually has no signs or symptoms, so it s important to be checked regularly. You can have HBP for years without knowing it. When you know you have HBP and we re able to work with you to manage it, you re helping to protect yourself against potentially serious effects of undetected, uncontrolled HBP. This can include problems with your heart, brain and kidneys. What Do the Numbers Mean? When we check your blood pressure, we ll let you know two numbers. For example, 120 over 80 (120/80). The first or top number is systolic pressure. This is your blood pressure at its highest when your heart beats and pumps blood. The bottom (or second) number is diastolic pressure. This measures your heart at rest between beats, when your blood pressure falls. What is White Coat Hypertension? For some people, going to the doctor is so stressful that they have high blood pressure only when they visit a medical office, where doctors traditionally wear white coats. If your doctor thinks this applies to you, you may be asked to use a home blood pressure monitor or an ambulatory blood pressure monitor. These devices help check and record your numbers away from the doctor s office, when you re more relaxed.

4 Some people can control and even prevent HBP by changing to healthier lifestyle habits. Your Bon Secours Heart Team can support you. There are six important things we can work on together to treat high blood pressure. 1. Keep a healthy weight. If you need to lose weight, talk to you doctor about an eating and exercise plan for you. Losing just 10 pounds can lower your blood pressure. 2. Stay active. Get 30 minutes of physical activity most days of the week. These activities can vary from gardening to brisk walking to bicycling to raking leaves. Feel free to mix it up to keep yourself from getting bored just check with your doctor before you start exercising. 3. Eat right. Fill your plate with foods low in saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol, as well as fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods. This can lower blood pressure and prevent HBP. 4. Cut down on sodium. Choose foods low in salt and other forms of sodium. Use spices, herbs, garlic and onions instead of salt. For most people, the recommended amount of sodium is 2,400 milligrams about one teaspoon of table salt (including salt used in cooking). Your doctor may advise you use less. 5. Limit alcohol. Too much alcohol raises your blood pressure and adds calories. Women should limit themselves to one drink a day and men should limit themselves to two drinks a day. A drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of whiskey. 6. Stop smoking. Smoking is a risk factor for developing heart disease. Medicine for HBP is not a substitute for these guidelines. If your doctor prescribes medicine to help lower your blood pressure, it s important that you still follow the steps outlined in this booklet.

5 There are Five Categories to Rank Blood Pressure: Blood Pressure Category Systolic mm Hg (top #) Diastolic mm Hg (bottom #) Normal less than 120 and less than 80 Elevated and less than 80 (Hypertension) Stage or (Hypertension) Stage or higher or 90 or higher Hypertensive Crisis (Consult your doctor immediately) higher than 180 and/or higher than 120 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: americanheart.org nhlbi.nih.gov bonsecours.com