Blood Pressure

While it may seem logical to assume that if the pressure at which your blood is circulating is too high, you will get pressure symptoms such as a headache - our research and experience however, tell us otherwise. Headaches are as common in people with normal blood pressure as they are in people with high blood pressure. To most people's surprise, elevated blood pressure rarely has any symptoms at all.

So what exactly is blood pressure?

What is your doctor doing when he puts a blood pressure cuff around your arm? Why is blood pressure measured using two numbers? And why are doctors so interested in measuring everyone's blood pressure on a regular basis?
It's really no great mystery. Imagine for a moment that your circulatory system is made up of two main parts, the pump and the pipes. This pump, affectionately known by most of us as our heart, is an organ, made up largely of muscle that contracts about 3 billion times in an average lifetime. The pipes, your arteries, veins and capillaries, are the conduits for the blood and transport vital nutrients (glucose for energy and proteins for making the body's building bricks) around the body while simultaneously removing waste products and toxins.

In the flow

To keep everything flowing smoothly, all this pumping and transporting relies on pressure developed by the heart and maintained by the arteries - this is what is known as your blood pressure.

As you can imagine, this grand design works spectacularly well provided you keep everything within the design limits. Push the pump too hard and you are in danger of heart strain, leading ultimately to heart failure. Overstress the pipes and you can expect to get a leak. Allow your cholesterol to get too high and this sludgy chemical starts to clog up the vital pipes, leading to all sorts of medical problems.

What's the big deal about high blood pressure?

If you suffer from high blood pressure or hypertension, to give it its correct medical name, you run the risk of getting, among other things, a stroke. Compare an artery in your head to a pipe in the attic of your house. When this pipe freezes, it bursts and then leaks water down through your ceiling. This is similar to what occurs when a person gets a stroke. Blood, under pressure, leaks into their brain.

If your high blood pressure overworks and damages your heart, it is as though your central heating pump breaks down during a cold spell. It can lead to a pretty cold and miserable household until it is fixed. If the pump that is your heart breaks down suddenly, life can become pretty bleak. If the breakdown is a serious one, you may die.

We know that if we keep a regular watch on blood pressure, we can reduce the chance of any or all of these catastrophes happening. In addition, all sorts of other medical problems can be reduced or minimised by ensuring that blood pressure is well regulated. For example, Vascular Dementia, a condition similar to Alzheimer's disease, will worsen if blood pressure is left untreated, as will many other, seemingly unrelated conditions, affecting eyesight and kidneys.