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Hypertension or high blood pressure is the excess pressure of blood on the
walls of arteries. Arteries are vessels that carry blood from the pumping heart to all the tissues and
organs of the body.
Normal blood pressure is less than or equal to 120/80; blood pressure between
120/80 and 139/89 is called "pre–hypertension", and a blood pressure higher than140/90
is considered high and may be called hypertension
The first number, 120 is the systolic blood pressure and corresponds to the
pressure in the arteries as the heart contracts and pumps blood forward into the arteries. The second
number, the diastolic pressure, represents the pressure in the arteries as the heart relaxes after contraction.
- Heart
- Kidney
- Arteries
- Eyes
- Brain
These damages are called complications of hypertension. As a result of long
term (chronic) hypertension, the ultimate result of the complications is damage or functional failure
of the respective organ or tissue. The end-organ damage, for example could be blindness (eyes), stroke
(brain) heart disease (heart) etc. For avoiding all these complications, it is essential to detect hypertension
as early as possible and take steps to normalize your blood pressure by various means.
Scientists earlier thought that diastolic hypertension was riskier than diastolic
one, but it is now known that in people older than 45- 50 years systolic hypertension poses a greater
risk.
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/blood-pressure
http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/tc/high-cholesterol-overview
http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/tc/cholesterol-faq
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Hypertension