Essay on Measuring and Changing Your Blood Pressure

(Marieb and Hoehn, 2010, p 703) defined Blood Pressure (BP) as ‘the force per unit area exerted on a vessel wall by the contained blood, and is expressed in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg)’. BP is still one of the essential and widely used assessment tools in healthcare settings. Nurses generally record the arterial BP which is the forced exerted blood that flows through the arteries, to establish a baseline and to determine any risk factors. BP

Stage 2 hypertension is described as a Systolic blood pressure of greater than or equal to 160 mm Hg or a Diastolic blood pressure of greater than, or equal to, 100 mm Hg.

People who have high blood pressure are putting more strain on the arteries, and this could be dangerous because it could lead to things such as heart attacks and strokes. Blood pressure can be measured by a sphygmomanometer.

There are two types of hypertension depending on the etiology; primary and secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension is as a result of idiopathic causes and develops gradually for many years. It is therefore associated with the adults. The most probable causes of primary HTN are poor lifestyle choices like poor diet, stress, obesity and sedentary life styles (Mayoclinic staff, 2014). The other type –secondary hypertension- is caused by underlying known diseases. The most common diseases which cause this type of high blood pressure are associated with the endocrine system (Mayoclinic staff, 2014).

As the blood is forced throughout our body, there is a pressure that is exerted on the walls of our arteries, this is known as blood pressure. We see blood pressure represented as two numbers, the systolic (top) and the diastolic (bottom) numbers. The systolic blood pressure is the heart contracting and the diastolic is the heart relaxing. A normal, healthy, blood pressure would be written as 120/80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) or verbally expressed by most individuals as 120 over 80. Our blood pressure can vary depending on many things. When the diastolic or systolic pressure is high, or significantly and consistently above 120/80 mmHg, this is what we call hypertension. There are different stages or degrees of hypertension. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins (2010) describes the stages as the following:

Blood pressure (BP) as defined by Marieb and Hoehan (as cited in Peate & Wild, 2012) is the pressure that the blood puts on the blood vessel walls as the blood travels around the body controlled by the heart. The strength of the blood pushing on the blood vessel wall is the BP reading. According

On average, people with uncontrolled hypertension are:Seven times more likely to have a stroke. Six times more likely to develop congestive heart failure. Three times more likely to have a heart attack.Different types of hypertensionFrom my research, I didn't find any other types of hypertension.What are some causes?In 90% of cases, the cause of hypertension is unknown. This is called

The heart pumps blood into the arteries and the force of the blood pushing against blood vessel walls is called blood pressure. Arteries carry the blood throughout the body. High blood pressure is also know as hypertension and is very dangerous in many different ways. One way is that it makes the heart have to work harder in order to pump the blood to the body. Secondly it contributes to hardening of the arteries and lastly, it also contributes to heart failure. A healthy heart is essential to life and having high blood pressure it not healthy for the heart. It has been proven that there are many different causes that have been linked to high blood pressure.

It is the measurement of the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls. A blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope is what are used to measure this. While taking you blood pressure two numbers are recorded; Systolic pressure and Diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the higher number that refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart contracts and pumps blood through the body. Diastolic pressure is the lower number and refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart is at rest and is filling with blood. Having high blood pressure can increase the risk of coronary heart disease (i.e. heart attack, stroke).

My systolic blood pressure number was 136 and my diastolic blood pressure number was 87. I measured my mom’s blood pressure and her systolic number was 125 and her diastolic number was 85. When ones heart beats in contracts and forces blood through their arteries throughout the whole body. The force required to do this induces pressure on the arteries also known as systolic blood pressure. For ones systolic blood pressure level to be considered optimal it would have to less than 120, to be normal it would have to be less than 130 and to be considered in the high normal range the number would have to fall between 130-139. If ones systolic blood pressure level falls between 140-159 they are in hypertension stage 1, if it falls between 160-179

Blood pressure is measured in two ways, systolic and diastolic. Systolic is the number that is always first, so when your heart beats, it contracts and pushes blood through the arteries and to the rest of your body, this force then creates pressure on the arteries and this is called systolic blood pressure.

The mercury sphygmomanometer has been “gold-standard” for measuring blood pressure since it’s invention in 1881 (Ostchega et al, 2011). However, mercury is now considered to be an environmental risk and many hospitals and clinical practices worldwide have banned the use of mercury (Myers, 2010). There are now many mercury free alternatives to the sphygmomanometer such as the aneroid sphygmomanometer, digital monitors like the x or ambulatory blood

From The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA states, "Stress can cause hypertension through repeated blood pressure elevations as well as by stimulation of the nervous system to produce large amounts of vasoconstricting hormones that increase blood pressure."

High blood pressure, a condition in which the long-term force of blood on the artery walls becomes too high can badly affect the heart. High blood pressure can be determined by finding out the amount of blood the heart pumps along with the resistance to blood flow in the arteries. Although symptoms or signs are unlikely for this condition, some patients may experience headaches, nosebleeds, or difficulty in breathing. This condition can be prevented by not using tobacco, staying in average weight range, reducing amount of salt

With the information found with what a patient’s blood pressure is, it helps health care providers understand the state of the patient’s health. A patient’s blood pressure measures the amount of pressure exerted on arterial walls in the patient’s heart. Blood pressure is measured in two numbers: systolic and diastolic. Systolic, the number listed first in blood pressure readings, reports the amount of force exerted by the blood into the arteries during ventricular contraction.