The Effects Of Age On Normal Blood Pressure?

The question arises, what is normal blood pressure? We all know that blood pressure is one of the most important indicators of overall health and physical condition. After all, that's why they call it a "vital sign." But as we get older, our blood pressure tends to rise. In the past, doctors often chose not to treat high blood pressure in older adults, since it was considered "normal" for blood pressure to rise with age. However, more recent data has shown that it is important to control blood pressure for individuals of all ages, since normal blood pressure contributes to lowered risk of stroke, healthy kidney function, healthier hearts, and many other enhancements to health in the later stages of life.

What Happens to Your Circulatory System as You Get Older

As with many organs and tissues of the body, the arteries become more rigid as you get older. This means that they offer increased resistance to the heart as it pumps the blood through them into the body's tissues. Over time, this increased resistance, if left unattended, can cause the heart's muscles to thicken, making them less pliant and efficient as a big pumping mechanism. The measures of blood pressure, the systolic and diastolic pressure readings (the first and second numbers in a blood pressure reading), normally change with age—but often in opposite directions. Because the heart is required to pump harder to move blood through stiffening arteries, the systolic reading—the pressure at which blood first begins to move through the artery pinched shut by the inflated cuff on the sphygmomanometer—gets higher, because the blood is being forced through harder. The diastolic reading—the pressure when the blood flow returns to full volume as the air pressure is reduced in the cuff of the sphygmomanometer—often gets lower, due in part to the artery's reduced pliability, meaning that it takes longer to fully relax and allow blood flow to resume. The difference between your systolic and diastolic readings—your pulse pressure—is another important measure of your arterial health. The wider the difference, the stiffer your arteries are, and the more carefully you need to monitor your blood pressure.

Why Normal Blood Pressure is Important at Any Age

Even if you feel fine, high blood pressure can still harm you. It can cause damage to organs and tissues, can lead to decreased mental function and loss of memory, and is a principal cause of strokes. As already mentioned, it can also lead to reduced heart function, or even heart attack. Just because you're getting older doesn't mean you should not monitor and treat high blood pressure. Find out what a normal blood pressure is for your age and condition, and work on maintaining it.

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Ways To Decrease High Blood Pressure

"Keeping just a few pounds off can significantly affect your risk of getting high blood pressure or diabetes," says cardiovascular health expert Lawrence Appel at the John Hopkins School of Medicine. Most Americans don't realize how simple modifications can tack on an extra ten years to their lives. It was previously assumed that if you had heart attacks and congestive heart failure in your family, then you were doomed and if your genetic slate was clean, then you'd be fine. However, health experts are finding that long hours, high stress and sloppy lifestyle habits are contributing to a rise in patients suffering from hypertension.

Over at the Harvard School of Medicine, researchers have developed a dietary program known as "DASH," an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The DASH diet includes: 8 grain servings, 5 vegetable servings, 2-3 low fat dairy servings, 1-2 servings of meat, poultry or fish and 5 servings per week of nuts, seeds or beans. Saturated fats and sugars should be limited and serving sizes generally run ½ cup cooked, 1 cup raw or 2 tbsp nuts and seeds. Exercise is crucial! Within just two weeks, the diet already began having an effect on Dr. Gabe Mirkin's patients, with 70% returning to normal blood pressure levels. He says that increasing minerals like magnesium, calcium and potassium had a strong impact, as did limiting fat and sodium. The diet triggers a diuretic effect, much like certain medications that work to "flush the system."

If you have a particularly heavy strain on your system or suffer more severe metabolic failure, then your doctor may recommend medication to help jumpstart quick progress. "I have people who come to my clinic with a headache caused by high blood pressure. I give them the medicine to bring the blood pressure down and a prescription," explains Dr. Brian F. Keaton, chairman of the board of directors at ACEP in Ohio. "Many of them don't have the money to fill it. I have no place in the system to care for them until they end up back here with a stroke because they weren't taking their medication." Unfortunately, the current health care system is an obstacle for many hard working Americans, but paying a little for medication in the short term saves a lot of emergency medical bills in the long run.

In addition to smoking, hypertension and high cholesterol, inactivity is one of the four major contributors to coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and poor cardiovascular health. Sedentary people have a 35% greater risk of developing high blood pressure and 55% greater risk of developing heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least 4 days per week. A 2002 study of overweight individuals found that strenuous activity, for example, jogging 20 miles/week, was needed to increase HDL (good cholesterol) but even walking or jogging 12 miles/week was enough to lower LDL (bad cholesterol). The best exercises for heart health include: walking, jogging, jumping rope, biking, cross-country skiing, skating, rowing, low-impact aerobics and water aerobics.

As we start to get older there are important numbers that start to weigh heavily upon us. We have to worry about our blood pressure, weight and our cholesterol level. These are some of the things that most of us have ignored for the vast majority of our lives now suddenly they have significant importance. But these are things that should not have been disregarded. A lifetime of mistreatment on the body renders simply unfavorable things when left unchecked.

 

Your cholesterol level is absolutely chief if you want to stay healthy and your body operating right. High levels can lead to heart attacks and stroke, both of these things you do not want to have to deal with. Being mindful when it comes to your cholesterol level is not only for the aging. It is something both younger people and old must be concerned with as well as be cognisant of if they hope to to conduct a healthy life. In this article we will go over the fundamentals of cholesterol and hopefully you will understand how significant a healthy level is to your body as well as peace of mind.

What is bad cholesterol?

LDL cholesterol is bad. All cholesterol is carried by lipoproteins but the low-density lipoproteins moves in the blood stream and allows the cholesterol to begin to accumulate. If there is too much LDL then the cholesterol begins building up on the walls of the arteries. It begins to form plaque which makes the arteries hard and not as flexible. When clots form and block the artery a heart attack or stroke can occur.

What types of medicines are given for high cholesterol?

Obviously the first choice of physicians is exercise and a healthy diet low in trans fats. But when that does not work or there is a high level of LDL present then medications must be brought in to help. There are many different types of medicines currently being used to treat high cholesterol. The goal of each type of medicine is to lower the amount of LDL present in the blood stream and to help remove blockage and build up that has occurred. Some of these medicines are statins, bile acid resins, and nicotinic acid and fibric acid derivatives.

How is the blockage from the arteries withdrawn?

The initial stage is through medicines but if there is a measurable tapering or obstruction in the artery or blood vessel then a somewhat more invasive operation is necessary. The actual functions might change but one frequent method is through a balloon angioplasty. The mechanical device is entered into the artery and then naviagted to the obstruction where the build up of plaque has happened. The balloon is then inflated to clear the passage. Nowadays the operation is minimally invasive and most patients are able to going home on that very day.

How do I know what my cholesterol is?

Well in order to know what your cholesterol is you should have a blood cholesterol testing performed at least every five years. The most recommended test is a fasting lipoprotein blood profile. This test measures not only your total cholesterol but it also specifies the LDL and the HDL levels. It is a great idea to be knowledgeable about where your numbers are and to ensure that they are in the proper healthy range.

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