High Blood Pressure Treatments

You've probably heard it before, but it's important enough to repeat again: High blood pressure does not have noticeable symptoms. This means that you can be living with high blood pressure and feeling fine, but all the while it can be damaging your heart, blood vessels, and kidneys. Treatment for high blood pressure can range from lifestyle changes to medications, depending on how high it is and your general health.

Definition

• Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. When blood is pumped out of the heart, the pressure is higher and when the heart rests, the pressure goes down. Blood pressure is measured at its highest and lowest, resulting in two numbers that make up your blood pressure. The first number represents the higher pressure. It's called systolic pressure. The second lower number is the diastolic pressure. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a normal blood pressure is anything less than 120 (systolic) and 80 (diastolic). In medical terms these two numbers are written as if they're a fraction---120/80. If you start to go above normal levels, the first step is called prehypertension (120-139 / 80-89). After that, the pressure readings are considered to be stage 1 high blood pressure (140-159 / 90-99) and stage 2 high blood pressure (160+ / 100+).

Complications

• Without treatment, high blood pressure causes your heart to get larger or weaker and this can cause heart failure. It causes the walls of the arteries to "balloon" or bulge, forming an aneurysm. Blood vessels anywhere in the body can become narrow. This is especially damaging to the small vessels in the kidney, which means the kidney can not adequately filter blood.

Medication

• There are many different safe medications for treating high blood pressure. Diuretics cause excess water and salt to be flushed out of the body, lessening the fluid in the blood and causing the blood pressure to drop. Other types of medications---angiotensin receptor blockers (ACE inhibitors), calcium channel blockers, alpha blockers, and vasodilators---cause the blood vessels to relax or widen. Beta blockers and alpha-beta blockers slow the heartbeat down so that less blood is pumped and blood pressure goes down.

Diet

• The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension plan (DASH) is available from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It emphasizes eating more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry, beans, seeds, nuts, and low-fat milk products. It's lower in saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol and higher in nutrients that help lower pressure such as magnesium, calcium, and potassium. It's also important to limit the amount of salt in your diet, so look for the amount of sodium in nutrition labels. Men should have no more than two alcoholic drinks a day, and women should limit their intake to one because alcohol raises blood pressure.

Lifestyle Changes

• Several lifestyle changes can make a huge difference to your blood pressure. The first is making sure you maintain a healthy weight. This will help blood pressure and decrease the risks for many other serious health problems. If you smoke cigarettes, understand that they damage your blood vessels so they increase your risk of high blood pressure, and they will make things worse if your blood pressure is already too high. Limit the amount of stress in your life and learn how to manage the stress that's unavoidable. Take 15 minutes to relax or practice meditating. Don't forget physical activity as this helps with weight, stress, and maintaining overall good health.