What is High blood pressure?

Hypertension is a activity in which the claret burden is agilely college than normal. It is added accepted in men than women, abnormally from average age onwards.

The burden of the claret as it flows through the arteries and veins varies naturally. It is lower if the physique is at blow and rises during concrete exertion. It can aswell acceleration briefly in acknowledgment to stress. However, if your claret burden is agilely college than normal, even if you are comatose or relaxed, you are adversity from hypertension.

What causes hypertension and who is at risk?

The arteries amalgamate and become narrower as a aftereffect of ageing or a top fat diet. This restricts the apportionment of claret through the physique authoritative the affection plan harder to accumulate the claret flowing. This increases claret pressure.

A amount of factors can access the accident of hypertension or accomplish the botheration worse. These include:

Lack of exercise

Stress

Smoking

Obesity

Excess booze burning

Sometimes, however, there are specific causes. These include:

Kidney problems

Some affection altitude

Complications during abundance

Certain hormone imbalances

Side furnishings of drugs such as steroids or 'hair-restoring' creams

What are the accepted affection and complications of hypertension?

Essential hypertension produces few, if any, specific symptoms. It is usually diagnosed by adventitious if your claret burden is abstinent as allotment of a accepted bloom analysis or during an assay for addition botheration or afterwards a achievement or affection attack.

When actual severe, hypertension can produce:

Breathlessness

Headaches

Dizziness

Symptoms of complications include:

Kidney problems

Eye problems

Seizures ('fits')

How do doctors recognise hypertension?

The analytic analysis for top claret burden is artlessly barometer claret burden over a aeon of time to see if it consistently college than normal. Other investigations that may be agitated out if top claret burden is anticipation to be a botheration are an ECG (an electrocardiogram) which measures the electrical activity of the heart, a chest X-ray to see if the affection is enlarged, claret tests and possibly investigations of the kidneys.

What is the analysis for hypertension?

Self-care activity plan

However, as you ability average age (especially if you advance a desk life). The doctor places an inflatable bandage or 'cuff' about your top arm about akin with your affection and inflates it with a hand-held pump. A barometer indicates how abundant burden the belt is exerting. As it tightens about the top arm, the belt restricts the breeze of blood. By acceptance the belt to collapse slowly, the doctor can acquaint at what burden the claret starts to breeze by activity and alert with a stethoscope for your pulse.

If your claret burden is alone hardly aloft or if there is no specific could cause for hypertension, analysis usually centres about adopting a added advantageous lifestyle. The doctor may admonish you to:

Give up smoker

Lose weight

Take added exercise

Improve your diet

Eat beneath blubbery aliment

Avoid accent

Learn to relax

Complementary analysis

A array of commutual treatments are accessible for hypertension. However, there is no absolute analysis affirmation to prove that any commutual medicines (eg homeopathic medicines and herbal remedies) are benign and do not accept adverse effects.

Therapies such as the Alexander technique, reflexology, alleviation and visualisation, yoga and tai chi may advice advance a faculty of abundance and abate accent which exacerbates top claret pressure.