Monitoring Your Blood Pressure Could Literally Save Your Life
By Sandy Morris on Oct 2, 2008 in Health-N-Fitness
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High blood pressure, which is also known as hypertension, has been given the nickname of the ’silent killer’. High blood pressure can be a fatal condition that develops gradually over a long period of time and the majority of people do not experience any signs or symptoms of the condition at all. As a consequence of its lack of signs and symptoms, high blood pressure frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated.
In the United States it was estimated that some 50 million adults were suffering from high blood pressure in the early 1990’s and this figure has been rising ever since. By the start of the 21st century it was estimated that some 65 million people were suffering from high blood pressure and now that number has topped 72 million. This means that about one in three adults in the US now suffers from high blood pressure.
This is what some recent studies have revealed:
30% of people with high blood pressure are not aware of their condition and are therefore not receiving any treatment.
15% of the people are aware that they have hypertension but are either not getting treatment for it or do not bother to follow their recommended treatment.
25% of high blood pressure sufferers are aware of their condition but do not at present have their condition under control.
All of this means that about only 30% of the people with hypertension are currently receiving the correct treatment for their hypertension and have it under control.
Although it is often said that it is not possible to tell if a person has high blood pressure there are a few tell-tale signs which may indicate that you have hypertension. Some of these signs and symptoms include headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and nausea.
High blood pressure is one of the main causes of death in the United States today and it also considerably increases the risk from several life threatening conditions like heart attack, heart failure, cardiovascular disease and kidney failure.
Because of the nature of this condition it is a good idea to keep an eye on things by monitoring your blood pressure regularly and this can be done by simply visiting your doctor’s office and asking for a blood pressure check. This is not however all that convenient and so a better option today is to simply monitor your own pressure at home. There are a variety of monitors available today for use at home which are both quick and easy to use and are also relatively inexpensive.
Making use of your own blood pressure monitor at home allows you to keep an eye on the blood pressure of the whole family and will give you a great deal of peace of mind and ensure that you detect any developing problems early on so that they can be treated easily.
