Care for your heart: Understanding high blood pressure
Post Date - Feb 14, 2023
February is all about sharing the love that’s in your heart. The first step to that? Making sure your heart is well-cared for – and not just romantically but physically! One in three American adults are treated for high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, making it one of the most common heart conditions. While high blood pressure can be influenced by both genetic and lifestyle factors, there’s a lot you can do to control it, starting with educating yourself. Ascend wants its drivers to be set up to get the care they need, so here’s a breakdown of the numbers behind high blood pressure, its effects on your body, and ways to manage it.
Understanding the numbers
Let’s start with breaking down what blood pressure is. It is the measurement of the force of blood against the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps it throughout your body. It is important that the force of the blood as it pushes through your arteries is not too high.
Blood pressure is comprised of two numbers. The first indicates the amount of pressure your blood creates against the artery walls as your heart beats. The second indicates the same sort of pressure but when your heart is resting between beats. Normal blood pressure is anything less than 120 over 80, read medically as 120/80. If either of these numbers is raised, you could have prehypertension or high blood pressure. Prehypertension is the precursor to hypertension, when blood pressure is higher than normal but has not yet hit the high range.
Prehypertension and hypertension can significantly increase your risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death for American adults.
The effects
When your blood pressure is raised, the force of the blood pushing against the walls of your arteries increases. This can cause your arteries to harden, decreasing the amount of blood and oxygen able to pass through them.
This poses a great risk to your heart, brain, and other vital organs. Serious complications can arise when organs do not get the proper amount of blood and oxygen, making a normal blood pressure imperative for a healthy life.
How to control your blood pressure
Some factors increase your risk of developing high blood pressure. If you are diagnosed with diabetes, are overweight, eat a high-sodium diet, drink excessively, or smoke tobacco, your risk for high blood pressure increases. Medical professionals’ number one suggestion for controlling high blood pressure? Get it checked regularly.
Ascend’s comprehensive medical plan provides its drivers with free preventative care that can reduce the probability of developing health conditions like high blood pressure.
Here at Ascend, we’re spending February celebrating the heart and all the various roles it plays in our lives. When you partner with us, you get a carrier that wants the best for YOU! Learn more about our career opportunities today!
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: Most Americans Should Consume Less Sodium (accessed April 2018): cdc.gov/salt/index.htm
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