Lower Blood Pressure

• a person working 40 hours had a 14% increased risk of suffering from high blood pressure
• someone working 51 hours a week had a 29% increased risk

Blood Pressure Reading Ranges
By Mike Herman

High blood pressure can be potentially devastating to your health, so work diligently to know exactly what numbers corresponds with your blood pressure.

There are new guidelines out there for assessing this reading, so that you can remain even more aware of how this number can potentially affect your life.

Individuals with high blood pressure are much more likely to suffer painful and debilitating medical conditions, including heart attacks and strokes.

Furthermore, patients with high blood pressure can experience kidney disease and even heart failure if steps are not made to reverse the problem.

When you take your blood pressure, be sure what the numbers mean and know exactly where you fall in the blood pressure readings ranges .

What Do The Numbers Mean?

The numbers associated with your blood pressure have direct ties to your heart. One number measures the intensity of the pressure of the blood flowing through your veins.

This blood is pumped out by the heart and travels through the veins in order to feed the necessary liquid to the rest of your body.

The specific number consists of the systolic and diastolic pressures and is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

The systolic pressure is the peak pressure point, whereas the diastolic is the lowest pressure point.

The two of these numbers coordinate to determine the exact rating of your blood pressure.

Normal Values

When you look at the blood pressure reading ranges , there are several different categories of numbers.

The normal values range between 90 and 120 mmHg for systolic and 50 and 80 mm HG for diastolic.

Even though you have a normal value for your blood pressure, you should still have it checked on a regular basis.

When any change occurs, notify your primary health care provider.

Pre Hypertensive

New guidelines for blood pressure have been recently published.

These guidelines created a new category, pre hypertensive.

Instead of blanketing all readings under the normal value, this category notifies you that you are on the high side of normal and may potentially enter into figures associated with high blood pressure.

Numbers associated with pre hypertensive are from 120 to 139 mm Hg for systolic and from 80 to 89 mm Hg for diastolic.

High Blood Pressure Stage One

High blood pressure is broken up into two categories.

The first category is Stage One.

This stage is serious, but not as potentially life threatening as the other category.

The numbers associated with Stage One of high blood pressure are between 140 and 159 systolic and 90-99 diastolic.

High Blood Pressure Stage Two

If you are diagnosed with Stage Two high blood pressure, you should immediately begin working to lower this reading.

Monitor your blood pressure on a regular basis and consider the many medications on the market designed to lower your blood pressure.

Also, a lifestyle change that excludes unhealthy foods from your diet and includes much more exercise will help you in this task.

Anyone who has blood pressure that measures 160 or higher mm Hg systolic or 100 or higher mm Hg diastolic is considered to have high blood pressure.

Mike Herman Is a Successful Webmaster and Publisher of 4HealthConcerns.com Where He Has More Information On How To Lower Your Blood Pressure That You Can Research While Relaxing at Home in Your Pajamas

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Herman

• prehypertension - in other words you have blood pressure that is higher than normal but not high enough to be given the label of "hypertension"
• white-coat or labile high blood pressure - people in this group benefit from reducing stress levels and resperate can help with this
• isolated systolic hypertension - in other words your upper blood pressure number is high but your lower number is normal
• resistant high blood pressure - uncontrolled blood pressure despite use of a diuretic and at least two other medications at maximum approved doses

You can read more about resperate or find out what it costs - Click here

A blood pressure monitor on your wrist

I've written about choosing a blood pressure monitor elsewhere on this site and - in general - I prefer the blood pressure monitor cuff to be around the upper arm. In the past I've taken the view that an upper arm blood pressure monitor will give more accurate results.

Maybe it's time to take another look at this. In the article below Andy Maingam reviews blood pressure wrist monitors and how to use them properly. Read on - you might change your mind like me.

The Blood Pressure Wrist Monitor
By Andy Maingam

It’s very important to conduct periodic blood pressure tests and because it’s such a quick, easy and painless procedure, there’s not really any need to neglect this simple health task. High blood pressure, also known as the silent killer, has become a major problem in western societies, and because there are no obvious symptoms it goes quite unnoticed among many folks.

Whenever patients visit a doctor’s surgery, he or she will usually do a routine blood pressure check while you are there regardless of your reason for visiting. Previously, trips to the local clinic or doctor’s surgery were the only time people got to get there blood pressure checked, but this need not be the case any more as home blood pressure kits can now be obtained from any high street as easily as a bandage. In fact, no first aid kit is complete without one. Also available is the blood pressure wrist monitor and I’ll continue to explain the benefits of such a device below.

When a doctor takes your blood pressure measurements, it provides just a momentary value, which means it reads your pressure at that particular moment in time. To get a more accurate reading, it is best to take repeated measurements in your normal home and work environments as this will give the actual blood pressure values under your everyday conditions. People tend to be a little more relaxed in their familiar surrounds too, and this all contributes to a more accurate value overall.

This is where those handy wrist blood pressure monitors come into their own. A simple cuff can be wrapped around the wrist, and literally within seconds your blood pressure and pulse rates appear on the large, easy to read, digital display screen. If you can put on a wrist watch you can wear a blood pressure wrist monitor, they really are that easy to use.

What happens once they are on your wrist is they inflate automatically and provide accurate readouts. For accuracy, these blood pressure monitors must be positioned as heart level. They actually have sensor arrows on the display panel which guide you to holding your measuring arm in exactly the right position, which is at heart level. The reading is stored automatically and there’s no need to use the memory button after taking your measurement. Many of these monitors will store up to the last 30 measurements.

Because we can’t see or hear our blood pressure and because there are no obvious symptoms it doesn’t mean we should ignore it. If you care anything about your health, then you must care about your blood pressure. Take regular checks for you and your family and if any of the readings are astray from the norm, you can take an accurate prognosis to your doctor, who will in turn know how to deal and or prescribe the correct treatment for the condition.

Andy Maingam is a proficient writer and webmaster for BloodIssues dot com where he writes on such issues as High Blood Pressure. The Silent Killer! and High Cholesterol. He also covers many other blood related issues on the site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Maingam

Lower Blood Pressure

Biggest Breakthrough Could Help Millions But Still Largely Unknown
By David O'Hara

Its therapeutic breathing and it's proving to be the most promising high blood pressure treatment since the development of modern medicine. In fact, it's the first and only all-natural method clinically proven and recognized by the medical profession.

At least seven separate and independent clinical trials reveal that breathing slowly and deeply for 10 to 15 minutes a day can produce significant reductions in blood pressure. Reductions as high as 36 points systolic and 20 points diastolic have been documented. Averages vary depending on numerous factors, but virtually anyone with any degree of hypertension has something to gain from it. Naturally, those with the highest pressure to begin with have the most to lose (or, rather: to gain!).

What's even more surprising is that lower blood pressure begins to last throughout the day after only 4 to 6 weeks practicing therapeutic breathing. The result is a significant and lasting drop in your blood pressure. Many users have been able to either reduce or eliminate their use of medications or even to avoid starting them altogether. (Of course, any changes in medication must be under medical supervision.)

Results of the clinical trials have been published in numerous respected medical journals. Also, therapeutic breathing is promoted and endorsed by leading medical organizations including Harvard Medical School, The Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins and The American Heart Association.

The technique involves breathing slowly and deeply at a rate of less than 10 breaths per minute for 10 to 15 minutes a day. At the same time, exhalation is prolonged to approximately twice the length of inhalation. These two changes together produce optimum breathing for lowering high blood pressure. Therapeutic breathing, however, will not affect normal blood pressure.

Like most things that really work, the explanation is very simple: Breathing slowly and deeply relaxes muscle tension, especially in the chest area, which allows blood vessels to open up and relieve pressure on the heart. It literally takes a load off your chest! This is the same mechanism targeted by drugs - but without any side effects.

Relaxation is the third essential element - no, the key element - sometimes overlooked. The method is only beneficial when done in a state of deep relaxation. This may sound easy but it's really very difficult, as anyone who's tried to relax while concentrating on breathing can confirm. What's more, trying to use therapeutic breathing incorrectly can tense you up and actually increase your blood pressure.

Various methods have been developed to overcome this difficulty. The most effective of these is called Breathing with Interactive Music. This method uses music for relaxation while guiding your breathing into the so-called therapeutic zone. Rarely has such an effective medical treatment been so easy and enjoyable!

Yet, despite being hailed a breakthrough on national TV news networks and in major newspapers and magazines across the world, it still appears to be largely unknown. Producers of the leading therapeutic breathing devices claim only tens of thousands of successful customers. That may seem
like a large number (and it certainly supports claims of effectiveness) but when you consider the tens of millions of hypertension sufferers in the US alone it's just a tiny fraction of the potential.

New developments apply this amazing method in even easier, more enjoyable and affordable ways.
Perhaps as the word slowly gets out about therapeutic breathing it will win the widespread recognition it deserves. Even more importantly, it could prove to be the answer to the blood pressure worries of millions.

To learn more about therapeutic breathing and high blood pressure visit http://www.control-your-blood-pressure.com or http://www.low-pressure.net

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=David_O