Regular exercise can lower your high blood pressure or preserve your healthy blood pressure. As you get older, your blood pressure tends to rise, increasing your risk for heart attack, stroke or kidney failure. You can reduce your risk of...
Hypertension (high blood pressure) is as sneaky a killer as it is insidious because it can cause damage in your body long before visible symptoms surface. According to physician Julian Whitaker, high blood pressure triples your risk of dying from...
Stress has yet to appear as a cause of death in national health statistics. Yet few people would argue that it is one of the top health problems in the United States. Stress acts like an invisible, yet perceptible hand behind various body and mind...
In keeping with its reputation of "silent killer," high blood pressure can wreak havoc in your body without warning signs or visible symptoms. Yet, regular check-ups can easily help diagnose it. What's more, losing excess weight, dietary changes...
Treadmill tests, also known as stress tests, monitor your heart's ability to pump blood through your body effectively. To pass a stress test with flying colors, you have to have a certain amount of aerobic conditioning, and you also have to pay...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 74.5 million people in the U.S. have hypertension with a cost of $76.6 billion (in 2010). High blood pressure means a systolic pressure or top number over 140 mmHg and a diastolic...
High blood pressure is basically an abnormal amount of force placed on your arterial walls. As blood circulates through the body, it creates a certain amount of pressure on the walls of your arteries. But when blood flow is met with resistance, it...
Approximately 1-in-3 adults in the United States has high blood pressure, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. High blood pressure has no symptoms, so it can be present for years before a person becomes aware of it. High...
Your blood pressure is basically the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. When your blood pressure is measured, your doctor records your systolic pressure---blood pressure that is highest when your heart beats---and your...
Natural diuretics function by increasing your body's urine production to rid it of excess water and salts. Your body maintains a balance between the concentration of water and electrolytes in your blood and the surrounding tissue. A diuretic...
A blood pressure increase above a person's average reading is not necessarily an indicator of hypertension. A temporary rise in blood pressure can be caused by factors such as an elevated heart rate and increased blood volume, and blood pressure...
Diabetes, a metabolic condition, occurs when the body either fails to produce insulin, a hormone needed for glucose to gain entry into cells, or the insulin fails to work effectively. Without insulin, glucose remains in the bloodstream and causes...
High blood pressure affects millions of Americans, and a respected medical clinic reports the condition affects most people at some time in their lives. To treat high blood pressure, doctors prescribe medications and recommend lifestyle changes,...
Blood pressure is the pressure of the circulating blood on blood vessel walls. This measurement is an indication of overall health and is divided into systolic and diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure refers to the force in the arteries when the...
While street drugs are by definition abused, there are also several types of prescription drugs that are frequently misused. People can get them by abusing their medical appointment privileges and seeing multiple different physicians to feed their...
Atherosclerotic heart disease is a disorder of the blood vessels that supply oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. It is considered a form of cardiovascular disease which, along with other types of heart disease such as abnormal heart rhythms,...
Whether you are at rest or exercising, physiological functions must remain within a narrow range for you to survive. Negative feedback loops work to keep physiological parameters such as heart rate within this target range, or homeostatic set...
Blood pressure is often a good indicator of someone's overall cardiovascular health. Having high blood pressure (hypertension) can indicate that a person has a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. Sometimes a physician that a patient...
Someone with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, has a value of 140/90 or greater. This value is made up of the systolic, "top" pressure, and the diastolic, "bottom" pressure. The systolic pressure refers to the pressure as the...
The first lesson in losing weight is cutting calories. Because 3,500 calories make up a pound, cutting 500 calories every day will result in a one-pound-per-week weight loss. Planning menus rich in fruits, veggies and whole grains can help you cut...
Metabolic syndrome is prominent in more than 45 million American adults and more than 100 million people worldwide. This condition is linked to the rise in obesity rates and presents a serious risk in the development of heart disease. Overweight...
Consuming garlic can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure levels, according to the textbook "Basic Diet and Nutrition Therapy." Reducing cholesterol and blood pressure is beneficial for people suffering from hypercholesterolemia and hypertension....
Norvasc is the brand name of amlodipine, a prescription drug used to treat high blood pressure and angina (chest pain). Norvasc is part of the family of drugs called calcium channel blockers.
When your heart beats, the blood sent out through your arteries exerts pressure against the inner walls of the arteries; this is your blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure refers to the pressure exerted during the heart's contraction; diastolic...
Worldwide, people consume an estimated 10 billion pounds of coffee every year, per the the Encyclopedia of Mental Health Disorders website. There is more caffeine in coffee than in soft drinks, cocoa and tea. Caffeine affects the brain by...
Measuring a patient's blood pressure is one of the most basic and informative measurements that can be taken to assess the patient's health. High blood pressure means the patient is at a higher risk of developing heart disease, whereas low blood...
High blood pressure occurs when your heart is forced to work harder than normal to push blood through your arteries, such as what happens when plaque builds up on your artery's inner walls. A serious medical condition, high blood pressure can lead...
Blood pressure can be measured from any artery that runs the near the surface of the skin. The basic way of measuring blood pressure is to apply pressure (using an air-filled cuff) to the artery and listening to the blood as it courses through the...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, elevated blood pressure affects 74.5 million people in the United States per year. Untreated elevated blood pressure produces heart disease and stroke. Heart disease remains the No. 1...
