Did you Know!
- 👉An estimated 1.28 billion adults aged 30 - 79 years Worldwide have hypertension, mostly(two-thirds) living in low and middle-income countries.
- 👉An estimated 46% of adults with hypertension are unaware that they have the condition.
- 👉Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.
What is Hypertension?
Hypertension is also called "High Blood Pressure"
Before we proceed with this topic let's take a time to understand the following concepts;
What is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is the force that your blood experiences against the walls of your arteries.
Arteries carry blood from your heart to other parts of your body. This pressure depends on the resistance of your arteries through which the blood flows and how hard your heart has to work.
Your blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day.
When your heart pumps more blood, your arteries become narrower so that they may push blood to far organs in your body. This condition increases your blood pressure.
On the other hand, when your heart pumps less blood, your arteries become wider. This lowers your blood pressure.
Your blood pressure is measured in milliliters of mercury (mmHg), and it is recorded in two(2) numbers.
What do blood pressure numbers mean?
Blood pressure is measured using two numbers:
The first number, called systolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heartbeats.
The second number, called diastolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart rests between beats.
If the measurement reads 120 systolic and 80 diastolic, you would say, “120 over 80,” or write, “120/80 mmHg.” To make it more understandable, let's take a simple class session about your heart.
Your heart is a muscle about the size of your fist. It’s made up of four chambers and contains four valves. The valves are open and close to let blood move through the chambers and into and out of your heart. According to the American Heart Association, your heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute or about 100,000 times per day. As it beats, blood is forced against your artery walls.
Your systolic blood pressure measures the force of blood against your artery walls while your ventricles — the lower two chambers of your heart — squeeze, pushing blood out to the rest of your body.
Your diastolic blood pressure is the bottom number on your reading. It measures the force of blood against your artery walls as your heart relaxes and the ventricles are allowed to refill with blood. Diastole — this period of time when your heart relaxes between beats — is also the time that your coronary artery is able to supply blood to your heart.
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