You’ve got a super-busy life, so you’re trying to take care of yourself. You get your sleep, eat your veggies, and seem to feel fine. Then, your physician gives you the news: You have high blood pressure.
Just what you need.
To get it under control, it helps to understand exactly what’s happening. Here’s a bit on the mechanics.
As you know, blood flows from your heart to the rest of your body via blood vessels (tiny tubes) called arteries. Blood pressure is a measurement of how much force blood puts on the artery walls as it moves throughout your body.
When that measurement is consistently higher than normal, it’s called hypertension, or high blood pressure.
Left untreated, high blood pressure can put you at risk for heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney disease or failure, sexual problems, and vision loss.
If you have high blood pressure, you’re not alone. With more than 40% of Black people in the U.S. having it, Black Americans have one of the highest prevalences of high blood pressure in the world.
High blood pressure can affect Black people differently. It is often diagnosed earlier in life and is much more severe.
Fortunately, high blood pressure doesn’t have to be permanent. Here’s how you may be able to tackle the problem and lower your blood pressure.
With about 40% of Black adults in the U.S. having high blood pressure, you probably know someone else who has it. Does she know how to achieve lower blood pressure? Share this article with her.