Do you know your numbers?

What is blood pressure?

Every time your heart beats, which happens 60 to 100 times a minute, it pumps blood into your arteries. Blood pressure is the pressure of blood on the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood around your body. Your blood pressure changes to meet your body’s needs and doesn’t stay the same all the time. 

Blood pressure is often measured using an electronic blood pressure machine and cuff; however, some people prefer to measure it manually using a cuff and stethoscope. Both ways are accurate and will give you a reading in the form of systolic blood pressure / diastolic blood pressure. Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury (mm/Hg).  

How can you check your blood pressure readings? 

Systolic blood pressure is the first or top number that you will see on your blood pressure monitor and the higher of the two. This is the maximum reading recorded when your heart contracts and pushes blood into the artery walls. 

Diastolic blood pressure is the second or bottom reading on your monitor. This is the minimum recorded reading when your heart relaxes before the next contraction. During this relaxation phase, your heart refills with blood and oxygen.  

Lauren Hewitt, Registered Associate Nutritionist at Heart Research UK, explains: “You should aim for your blood pressure readings to be within a healthy range throughout the day, especially at rest.  

“A healthy blood pressure range is 90 / 60 mmHg to 120 / 80 mmHg. A reading below the healthy range is classed as having low blood pressure, and a higher reading of 121-140 / 81-90 mm/Hg is within a raised range.

“Ifyour blood pressure is above this, then you have high blood pressure and need to visit your GP. High readings range from 141-160 / 91-100 mm/Hg and mean that you should see your GP within two weeks.

Very high readings are anything above 160 / 100 mm/Hg and indicate that you should visit your GP within two days.” 

What are the risks of having high blood pressure? 

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, often doesn’t have any symptoms, which means that you wouldn’t know if you had it unless you got your blood pressure checked. This explains why it is often called the ‘silent killer.’ 

“Every day in the UK, 350 people have a stroke or heart attack that could have been prevented,” says Lauren. “Uncontrolled and untreated high blood pressure damages the walls of your blood vessels, which results in plaque build-up and can lead to coronary heart disease and strokes. 

“Having hypertension untreated for a long time can result in your heart becoming damaged due to it needing to work overtime. This can result in heart failure and be fatal. It can also increase your risk of other conditions, such as kidney disease and vascular dementia.” 

How can you reduce your blood pressure?

Several different factors affect your blood pressure, including physical activity, diet and genetics. Following a healthy or unhealthy lifestyle can change your blood pressure readings.  

Lauren says: “Physical activity and exercise are one of the best ways to strengthen your heart and reduce your blood pressure. Being active helps to keep your heart and blood vessels in the best shape possible, just like exercise benefits the rest of your muscles. You should aim to carry out at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each week, as well as two strength training sessions to keep your heart strong and working efficiently.

Dietary factors such as consuming high amounts of salt and sugar also increase your blood pressure and can influence weight gain. Eating too much salt increases the amount of sodium in your body, which can cause fluid retention. This means that water is pulled back into your bloodstream and increases the amount of water in your blood vessels, increasing your blood pressure. 

Eating too much sugar can also contribute to high blood pressure. High blood sugar levels can lead to atherosclerosis, a buildup of fatty material in your blood vessels. Sugar can also cause weight gain due to its high number of calories and lack of nutritional value, which also increases blood pressure. An easy way to reduce your blood pressure readings is to reduce your consumption of these and opt for low salt and sugar versions of foods, making sure you’re reading the food labels on packaging. Consuming too much alcohol and smoking can increase your blood pressure too, so reducing these and stopping where possible will help your heart massively.”