Blood pressure refers to the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as blood moves through arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and veins; the term blood pressure generally refers to arterial blood pressure, i.e., the pressure in the larger arteries, arteries being the blood vessels which take blood away from the heart. The systolic pressure is defined as the peak pressure in the arteries, which occurs near the beginning of the cardiac cycle; the diastolic pressure is the lowest pressure (at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle). The average pressure throughout the cardiac cycle is reported as mean arterial pressure; the pulse pressure reflects the difference between the maximum and minimum pressures measured.

High blood pressure is that amount of blood pressure that when sustained in any one person will result in damage to the blood vessels and vital organs. Since this can vary from patient to patient, the Joint national Committee on Hypertension has developed guidelines for the management of blood pressure. They are as follows:  




Blood pressure is commonly measured with a sphygmomanometor or blood pressure cuffs.

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Remember that all arteries have muscle cells in the wall of the artery. These muscle cells respond to exertion just as if they were lifting weights. Any muscle worked hard will respond by getting larger. As these muscle cells in the wall of the arteries get larger, the hole (lumen) actually gets smaller. Therefore, the artery carries less blood flow. This is called arteriosclerosis.

 

 

 

The build up of cholesterol in the artery is called atherosclerosis and causes furthur narrowing of the blood vessel. People can have, and often do have, both arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis. Arteries can actually narrow to the point of complete closure. This can lead to death of tissue (gangrene) leading to amputations.

 

Medical science has identified many risk factors that lead to the development of blood vessel disease. These risk factors include:

1)     Male sex.

2)     Advancing age.

3)     Positive family history.

4)     High cholesterol and/or triglycerides.

5)     Sedentary life style (lack of regular exercise).

6)     Obesity (being above your ideal body weight)

7)     Smoking.

8)     Diabetes mellitus.

9)     Kidney disease.

10)   Hypertension.

 

If you have the above risk factors, you should work with your doctor to control as many of them as possible.