Flooring Primer

In recent years alterations to the lifestyle and diet in the majority of western societies have led to a rise in the number of people suffering from high blood pressure.

High blood pressure (otherwise called hypertension, or more correctly arterial hypertension) is a serious condition that rarely shows any symptoms and which, if left undetected and untreated, can cause stroke, heart attack, heart failure, arterial aneurysm or renal failure - any one of which is a serious life-threatening condition.

So just what is hypertension and exactly what causes it?

The arteries within the body are constantly filled with blood which provides a normal 'background' pressure on the artery walls. When the heart pumps newly oxygenated blood around the body it pushes this blood into the arteries which momentarily raises the pressure exerted on the walls of the arteries with each heartbeat. These two pressures are known as the systolic pressure (the higher pressure as the heart pumps) and the diastolic pressure (the lower 'background' pressure).

Normal blood pressure varies from person to person but, on average, systolic pressure should be about 120 mm Hg and diastolic pressure ought to be approximately 80 mm Hg. This is frequently expressed as a pressure of 120/80.

If your blood pressure begins to rise and remains above 120/80 then you are said to be 'prehypertensive' and, while this is not in itself serious, it is a sign that you may be at risk of developing hypertension and all of the problems linked with it. Once your blood pressure reaches, and maintains, a level of 140/90 or above then you are suffering from hypertension and steps need to be taken to reduce your blood pressure.

So just what causes your blood pressure to rise and stay elevated?

Well, there are numerous factors at play here and to start there is a group over which you have little, or no, control. This group of factors includes low weight at birth, several genetic factors, certain forms of diabetes (particularly type 2 diabetes) and your age (as we grow older our arteries display a tendency to become fibrous and lose their elasticity, creating a smaller cross-sectional area through which the blood can flow).

The next group of factors is far more controllable and includes a sedentary lifestyle, large levels of salt and saturated fats in the diet, being overweight, smoking tobacco, excessive alcohol consumption, stress and employment in certain occupations such as flying or motorway maintenance.

The vast majority of these factors are of course treatable and, in most cases, a simple change in your diet and the addition of some exercise into your daily plan is all that is necessary to reverse the problem. However, the difficulty is that, with few, or no, symptoms, most individuals are not aware that they have hypertension to start with.

So how do you go about solving the problem?

Fortunately the answer to this question is quite simple. All you have to do is to drop by your doctor's office on a regular basis (for most of us about twice a year will do the trick) and ask him or her to check your blood pressure. The whole procedure is painless, simple and fast and will provide you with peace of mind and possibly save your doctor a lot of work, time and expense later on when you are forced to present yourself at his office once hypertension arrives.

If you are not so keen on visiting your doctor then an excellent alternative nowadays is to simply check your own blood pressure at home. A number of simple to operate and quite inexpensive blood pressure monitors are available now, allowing you to maintain a check on your health, as well as the health of of your complete family, in the privacy and comfort of your own home.