High blood pressure may trigger severe medical complications, including stroke and heart attack, without proper intervention. Sadly, you may fail to notice this developing condition unless you screen regularly for hypertension. If you need top-notch Tomball cardiology, Northwest Houston Heart Center can help. Your elite providers deliver regular blood pressure tests to ensure that you stay healthy and avoid serious issues. Call or arrange an appointment online with the nearest office today.
What is Hypertension?
Hypertension, often known as high blood pressure, is a major health concern that can lead to a life-threatening heart attack, renal failure, or stroke without you even realizing it. Some people with high blood pressure may experience migraines, shortness of breath, or nosebleeds. The symptoms are not specific and do not appear until your high blood pressure has grown to a severe level.
Your blood pressure level is measured by checking the blood flow force through the arteries and around the body. If your blood pressure becomes too high, the power with which your blood flows might trigger major medical issues.
Sadly, high blood pressure rarely causes symptoms, so if you don’t get your blood pressure checked regularly, you won’t know there’s a concern until you have a severe health crisis.
As a result, regularly having your blood pressure tested by your medical team at Northwest Houston Heart Center is vital.
Causes of Hypertension
High blood pressure can result from underlying health problems such as hormonal imbalances, kidney disease, or diabetes. However, most people who have high blood pressure have at least one, if not more, risk factors due to their lifestyle. Among these elements are:
- Being overweight
- Chronic stress
- Overconsumption of alcohol
- High-fat diet
- High-salt diet
- Smoking
- Insufficient exercise
- High levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol
Because blood pressure increases with age, the impacts of an unhealthy lifestyle grow more powerful as you become older.
How is My Blood Pressure Measured?
Checking your blood pressure is a quick and painless process that only takes a few minutes at the Northwest Houston Heart Center office. Your physician wraps a blood pressure cuff around your arm and inflates it. They collect two readings that reveal how much pressure there is when the heart is pounding (the systolic reading) and in-between beats (the diastolic reading).
These two digits add up to reveal your blood pressure reading.
- Healthy blood pressure is below 120 systolic and below 80 diastolic
- High blood pressure occurs over 140 systolic or over 90 diastolic.
- Raised blood pressure comes between 121 and 140 systolic, or 81 and 90 diastolic.
- Dangerously high blood pressure: 160 or above systolic; 100 or above diastolic
At Northwest Houston Heart Center, your care team takes your blood pressure at your yearly checkup and normally checks it anytime you visit the clinic.
Available Treatments for Hypertension
In some circumstances, high blood pressure may require medicine. Regardless, the best method to control it is to make lifestyle changes. Northwest Houston Heart Center’s specialists can assist you with healthy eating regimens, diet and exercise, and smoking cessation.
Call Northwest Houston Heart Center today or schedule an appointment online to learn more about high blood pressure management.