May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month
May 12, 2023, 3:46 pm
High blood pressure or Hypertension is when your blood pressure, the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your blood vessels, is consistently too high. When left untreated, the damage that high blood pressure does to your circulatory system is a significant contributing factor for heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, vision loss, and other health threats.
Nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure. Most of the time there are no obvious symptoms.
The best way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have your blood pressure checked.
The chart below shows numbers and what they mean:
You can control your blood pressure to help you live a long and healthy life with proper treatment and management such as:
- eating a well-balanced diet, that’s low in salt
- limiting alcohol
- regular physical activity
- managing stress
- maintaining a healthy weight
- quitting smoking
- taking medications as prescribed
- working together with your doctor
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