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You & Your Blood Pressure!

Updated: Sep 24, 2023


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Starting off! Blood pressure is an important part of health and wellbeing especially if you are at a higher risk of cardiovascular conditions. I believe its everybody's duty & responsibility to understand their body and to learn how it works and blood pressure can be a key indicator of our overall health and wellbeing. It can provide us with valuable insight into the functioning of our cardiovascular system, and can alert us to potential problems that may require medical attention. By understanding the basics of blood pressure, we can take proactive steps towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle and preventing serious cardiovascular conditions from developing. In this article, we will discover about what blood pressure is, the effects of it, how it's measured, and how understanding it can help us to lead healthier lives.


What actually is blood pressure?

Your blood pressure is the amount of force your blood exerts into your blood vessel walls around the body. As your heart beats aka. as your heart's left ventricle contracts (systole), your blood pressure is at its maximum. As your heart relaxes (diastole), your blood pressure is at its minimum. For this reason, we always get two readings when we take blood pressure, the maximum pressure, and the minimum pressure - systolic and diastolic.


Here is a video from the British Heart Foundation which may help you to understand your blood pressure:


Normal BP figures

Normal values for blood pressure figures are around 120mmHg for systole and 80mmHg for diastole. If these figures begin to consistently increase, over time the risk of cardiovascular conditions will also increase, if your blood pressure is consistently high, I would recommend for you to take proactive steps to reduce it (see below).

While low blood pressure (hypotension) isn't necessarily bad for the cardiovascular system, if these figures remain consistently lower while causing hypotensive symptoms such as light headedness, you may want to take action (see below).


A little summary:

Normal values: S120 or lower / D80 or lower

Pre-hypertension: S120 - 139 / D80 - 89

Hypertension: S140 or higher / D90 or higher


Blood pressure and physical activity

Blood pressure can change depending on the activity you are performing. During activities where your heart rate is elevated and due to the increased demands on the cardiovascular system, blood pressure is temporarily increased and the higher the intensity, the higher the stress.

For this reason, when you attempt to get a blood pressure reading, in order to get a true resting blood pressure reading, sit down for 5 - 10 mins to ensure you are at rest!


How does high blood pressure effect the body?

Having consistent high blood pressure, places stress on the walls of the blood vessels. This stress can cause the inner lining of the blood vessels to deteriorate. If this lining deteriorates too much, it can expose the part of the wall which is more spongy / clingy. If this is exposed, plaque present in the blood is more likely to build in these areas.

If this plaque builds up, it can lead to blockages in the area around the worn down blood vessel which may subsequently lead to poor blood circulation and cardiovascular events.


What can effect blood pressure?

Your blood pressure can be directly effected by many lifestyle factors including:

  • Nutrition - some items you consume may cause your blood pressure to raise:

    • Consumables such as caffeine, alcohol & salt can all have temporary effects on your blood pressure and therefore cardiovascular system. If they are consumed regularly then this can also lead to long term effects on the cardiovascular system

  • Stress - stressful situations can also cause temporary raises in blood pressure. Once again if this occurs on a regular basis then it may have long effects on the cardiovascular system

  • Co-morbidities - If you already have certain health conditions, it can make you pre-disposed to hypertension:

    • kidney disease

    • diabetes

    • long-term kidney infections

    • obstructive sleep apnoea

    • glomerulonephritis

    • narrowing of the arteries supplying the kidneys

    • hormone problems – such as an underactive thyroid, an overactive thyroid, Cushing's syndrome, acromegaly, increased levels of the hormone aldosterone (hyperaldosteronism), and phaeochromocytoma

    • lupus – a condition in which the immune system attacks parts of the body, such as the skin, joints and organs

    • scleroderma – a condition that causes thickened skin, and sometimes problems with organs and blood vessels


What should I do if I have abnormal blood pressure?

High blood pressure:

Take steps towards reducing your cardiovascular risk by improving your modifiable risk factors.


Modifiable risk factors include:

  • Exercise & activity levels - appropriate weekly amount of physical activity (minimum 150 minutes each week) and reduce sedentary periods

  • Nutrition - healthy intake of foods which is appropriately balanced for your lifestyle

  • Weight management - Improve Body Mass Index (BMI) - appropriate weight for height

  • Blood fat / lipid management (cholesterol)

  • Smoking levels

  • Alcohol intake levels

Low blood pressure:


If hypotensive episodes become more regular, go to your GP to get them to review your situation. If you are on blood pressure medications, you should mention these symptoms in any follow up appointments you may have as the health care practitioner may change your medication slightly to help. If you do not have a follow up appointment, your GP and local pharmacists will also be able to review this.


There are also some things which you can do which will help to instantly combat hypotensive symptoms:

  • If getting up too quickly causes the symptoms, remember to take it nice and slow when getting up from seated / layed down positions

  • Moving your feet before getting up from seated / layed down positions can also help reduce these hypotensive symptoms by stimulating circulation

  • When experiencing hypotensive symptoms such as light headedness, sit down and perform continuous heel raises / seated marches until the light headedness / dizziness passes

Recommendations

If you know that your blood pressure is regularly high, try to proactively begin to make healthy lifestyle changes to begin to lower the risk of your modifiable cardiovascular risk factors.

If you need any support with this, feel free to message us for some advice from healthcare professionals. Also, below are some resources which you may find useful to help you on your journey to better health!


Some useful resources:

British Heart Foundation - more information on blood pressure:


National Health Service - more information on blood pressure:



NICE guidelines - Information for patients:


British Heart Foundation - Recommended automatic electronic blood pressure monitors:

 
 
 

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