Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Important Factors about Hypertension

Ideally, one’ blood pressure should be 120/80. By convention the first number given is the systolic pressure when the heart contracts; the second is the diastolic or between -beat pressure.
Hypertension or high blood pressure is defined as having a persisting systolic blood pressure of 140 or more and a diastolic blood pressure of 90 or higher. There was a time when blood pressure below 140/90 was considered normal. Currently blood pressures in the range 130-139/85-89 are classified as “high normal”(Joint nation committee, 1997).

In general, blood pressure increases as we age. In younger adults, more men than women suffer from high blood pressure. However at the age of 50, the prevalence of hypertension is higher in women. This could be attributed to menopause which amplifies the stiffness in the arteries that naturally occurs with increasing age (Takashi et al., 2005).

As of 2002, it was estimated that almost 50 million Americans had sustained hypertension (Blumenthal et al., 2002 ).

Possible Causes of Hypertension

Many clinicians believe that hypertension begins when a person has a biological tendency toward high cardiovascular reactivity to stress. This coupled with given difficult life circumstances, makes the person progress through borderline to frank hypertension in the adult years.

Read more: http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/important-factors-about-hypertension/#ixzz1FTWpdkIb

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