How to Recognize the Symptoms of High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force exerted on the walls of arteries and other blood vessels as the blood circulates through the body. Systolic pressure occurs when the heart beats and pumps blood. Diastolic pressure occurs when the heart is at rest and fills with blood. Both are vital for the detection of blood pressure. The normal blood pressure for an adult is supposed to be 120 mm Hg systolic and 80 mm Hg diastolic; anything above that is high blood pressure. Also known as hypertension, this disease is said to be a silent killer as there are no specific or characterized symptoms that can be pinpointed. Moreover, it may suddenly emerge with coronary heart diseases such as heart strokes or cardiac arrests, damaged kidney or even damaged vision.

Instructions

• 1

  Find out if the person complains of persistent headache or heaviness of the head.

• 2

  Ask if the person experiences giddiness.

• 3

  Check to see if the person complains of blurred or impaired vision.

• 4

  See if the person feels exhausted and short of breath and cannot afford to exert themselves much.

• 5

  Look out for anxiety, irritability or bouts of temper and, in extreme cases, black outs.