You’ve checked into your doctor’s office and are called back to a treatment
room. A nurse takes four major vital signs: pulse, respiratory rate, body
temperature and blood pressure—these will give your doctor a general idea
of how your body is doing. “Each body is different, but these target numbers
are widely used to evaluate your health,” said board-certified cardiologist
Dr. Samuel H. Foster, who is the medical director of the cardiac
rehabilitation program at CalvertHealth Medical Center.
Why are Blood Pressure Numbers
Important?
By taking your blood pressure, your doctor
can measure how hard your heart is working
to pump blood around your body through
your arteries. If your arteries are narrowed
by a buildup of plaque from fat, cholesterol
or other substances, your heart has to
work harder to push blood through them
to nourish and provide oxygen to your brain,
organs and tissue.
“A high blood pressure number alone,
from one doctor’s appointment reading, is
not a gauge of overall health,” said Foster,
“but, combined with other tests and an exam,
it can help indicate areas to monitor.”
What Do the Numbers Mean?
Blood pressure readings contain two numbers
expressed as a fraction, 120/80. You’ll hear
your doctor or nurse say “120 over 80.”
The first number is systolic pressure—the
pressure in the arteries when the lower
part of the heart beats and squeezes blood
against the artery wall. The second number
is diastolic pressure—the pressure in the
blood vessels between heart beats. Normal
blood pressure for adults of all ages is
between 90/60 and 120/80.
What are the Symptoms of High
Blood Pressure?
“High blood pressure alone really doesn’t have
any symptoms and many people don’t even feel
that anything is wrong,” said Foster. “It is called a
‘silent killer’ because people feel that if they don’t
have symptoms then they don’t need to worry.
Unfortunately, it is the complications from high
blood pressure that present symptoms, such as
shortness of breath, headaches, chest pain and
slurred speech.”
What Are the Risks of High Blood
Pressure?
“Risks from continued, untreated high blood
pressure include heart failure, heart attack, stroke,
kidney failure and blindness,” said Foster, “which
is why it is important for patients who have high
blood pressure to take steps to lower their risk.”
Despite being largely preventable, heart attacks,
strokes, heart failure and other cardiovascularrelated
conditions led to 2.2 million hospitalizations
in 2016, resulting in 415,000 deaths according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) research. Many of the heart events were in
middle-aged adults, age 34-64, with about 775,000
hospitalizations. High blood pressure is the second
leading cause of kidney failure among African
Americans and the leading cause of death due to
its link with heart attacks and strokes.
The DASH Diet - the Best Treatment for High BP
“The first, and number one treatment,
for high blood pressure is adjusting what
you eat,” said Foster who recommends
DASH [Dietary Approaches to Stop
Hypertension].
DASH is a lifelong approach to healthy
eating that encourages you to reduce the
sodium (salt) in your diet and to eat a
variety of foods rich in nutrients that help
lower blood pressure, such as potassium,
calcium and magnesium. DASH limits
salt to 2,300 mg a day, as compared to a
typical American diet which can include
3,400 mg of sodium a day.
“Unfortunately, altering your diet is
not a simple fix for some people who find
it hard to make changes in the foods they
eat, or how they prepare their food, but I
promise my patients once they make
healthy eating a habit, they will feel
better and more energetic,” said Foster.
“There is also the benefit of losing
weight and reducing the medications
you take.”
“The medical community is not
waiting on a scientific breakthrough
in treating high blood pressure—we
already know that small changes in
diet and exercise, quitting smoking
and limiting alcohol is the best
treatment for improving blood
pressure and thereby improving heart
health over a lifetime,” said Foster.
If you have questions about your
blood pressure, make an appointment to
talk with your primary care physician.
If you don’t have a primary care
physician, contact the physician
referral line at 888.906.8773.