The Silent Killer

Hypertension is the term doctors use for high blood pressure. Its often referred to as a Silent Killer since many people may have no noticeable symptoms. Blood pressure is the force of the blood through your arteries as your heart pumps blood through your circulatory system. Blood pressure is reported as a fraction, with one number over the other. The top number, called the systolic pressure, is the force when your heart contracts, the bottom number, called the diastolic pressure, is the pressure when you hear relaxes between beats.

Typically, healthy people have a blood pressure at or below 120/80mmHg. Your risk of heart or CV disease has recently been found to begin increase at a much lower level, blood pressure of 115/75. Blood pressure above 120/80 is considered by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to be pre-hypertenson. A BP of 140/90 mmHg is considered too high, and represents a significantly increased risk of heart disease.

Treatment for Hypertension

If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor will most likely order additional test to determine the cause of your elevated blood pressure. He or she will also recommend more frequent visits to monitor you. For moderate hypertension, lifestyle changes maybe enough to normalize blood pressure.

One of the first things you can do is change your diet to avoid sodium or salt, and lower your fat intake. The National Institutes of Health’s DASH diet ( Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension ) is rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods, and lowin total and saturated fat. Tha DASH diet also reduces red meat, sweets, and sugary drinks, and it’s rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fiber, and protein.

Increasing physical activity can help to lower your blood pressure. By doing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, your risk of complications can be reduced. If you are overweight, starting a weigh loss plan can also help bring your blood pressure into the normal range.

How Does Being Overweight Impact Blood Pressure?

The first question to ask in removing the obesity risk factor for hypertension is Am I overweight? Obesity is determined by Body Mass Index (BMI), which takes into account the relationship between height and weight. A BMI above 30.0 is considered obese. A score between 25.0 and 29.9 is considered overweight. Ideally, BMI should be between 18.5 and 24.9.

To measure you own BMI you take your current weight and divide it by the number you get when you multiply your height in inches by your height in inches again. Then multiply that number by 703 far your BMI. For example, if you are 56 and weight 165 pounds, you would multiply 66 time 66 for a total of 4356. Then divide 165 by 4356 for a total of 0.0378. Next multiply that by 703 for a BMI equal to 26.6 which is considered overweight.

When you are obese, your body needs more blood in order to supply oxygen to and nourish the extra tissue. When you put more blood into the same passageway of veins and arteries, there will be extra pressure on those blood vessels.

Weight gain is also usually in the form of fat. According to Mayo Clinic research, fat cells even produce more chemicals, which in turn add to the strain on the heart and pressure on the blood vessels. In addition, there is an increase in insulin from weight gain. This makes the body retain sodium and water, which also increases heart rate and decreases the ability of the blood vessels to move blood throughout the body, thereby increasing blood pressure.

Reducing Weight to Lower Blood Pressure

Because there is a direct correlation between obesity and hypertension, it makes perfect sense that by losing weight you can lower blood pressure. The proof is in the numbers. Blood pressure is measured in mm/hg. A reading of blood pressure both as the heart beats and as it relaxes, creates the dual number of X over Y giving you your final blood pressure reading. For every 2.2 pounds of weight lost, blood pressure falls 1 mm/hg. Realistically, an overweight person like in our example above could lose just 10 percent of their body weight in this case 16.5 pounds and lower their blood pressure by 7 or 8 points.

Small Steps for Big Results

Some other ways to lose weight safely and lower blood pressure include:

1. Reduce sodium intake
2. Don’t eat within 3 hours of going to bed at night
3. Drink at least 8 glasses of water each day
4. Replace saturated animal fats with non-saturated, healthy fats from vegetable sources
5. Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages that are packed with calories

There are some risk factors associated with hypertension that you cannot control, such as genetics, race, and age. How much you weigh and what you do to make sure you are a good weight is within your control. Take action to keep obesity in check and reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure.

Conclusion:

Hypertension and weight gain are both the result of chronic over activity of Sympathetic Nervous System. This explains why many people can’t reduce and maintain normal body weight in spite of strong motivation and thorough application of standard weight loss methods, not affecting sympathetic activity.