Blood Pressure & Heart

Raised blood pressure also increases the risk of stroke. It is now routine for adults to have their blood pressure measured at intervals when they visit their general practitioner. If you haven’t had it measured within the last 2 or 3 years it is worth making an appointment to see your doctor or practice nurse; however you rate yourself on the risk characteristics for heart attack. The modern treatment of raised blood pressure is very effective and causes few side effects. Your doctor or practice nurse will either tell you your blood pressure is normal, measure it again if it is borderline, or start treatment if this is necessary.

High Blood Pressure:

Blood in the arteries is under pressure, like water in a house-pipe with the tap turned on. Blood pressure is pulsatile, rising to systolic peak with each heart-beat and falling to a diastolic trough in between beats. Just as the pressure in the house-pipe (the strength of the jet) get higher if the tap is opened more or if the house pipe is narrowed, so the blood pressure is altered by changes in the amount of blood ejected by the heart with each beat. The amount of blood the heart pumps around the circulation varies enormously with everyday activities. Fortunately the body can adjust the resistance of its arteries to prevent the blood pressure swinging too wildly.

Nevertheless blood pressure will normally vary to some extent. Your doctor will, therefore, usually measure your blood pressure more than once to get an average reading.

High blood pressure is particularly dangerous because it does not itself cause any symptoms, despite the commonly held view that it causes headache, giddiness, flushing and nose bleeds. It does, however, put an extra strain in the long term on the heart and arteries, it causes premature ageing and hardening of the arteries and it encourages atheroma. The blood pressure, the more likely eventually is a heart attack or a stroke.

However high blood pressure can generally be lowered quite easily with proper treatment. One of the most valuable results of recent research has been the development of drugs which can lower the blood pressure without causing nasty side-effects.

High blood pressure should be regarded as a ‘risk factor’ for cardiovascular disease that can be dealt with one it is recognized. It should be regarded as a measurement and not a disease. It is quite common (5-10% of adults have high blood pressure), but it is ‘silent’ and can be recognized only by having it measured. Only half the people with high blood pressure are aware of the fact (more routine checks would help to discover the others) and only half of these are having proper treatment (often because they have not fully understood the need.) You should have your blood pressure checked every few years and more often if on the contraceptive pill or if the readings are at the high end of normal.