Blood pressure measurement

Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood in the arteries as it is pumped around the body by the heart. Blood pressure does not stay the same all the time. It changes to meet your body’s needs. It is affected by various factors including body position, breathing or emotional state, exercise and sleep. 

Caffeine's effect on blood pressure

Caffeine is a natural stimulant found in the nuts, berries, and leaves of certain plants. Caffeine is most commonly consumed as coffee or tea products, and some have estimated that these beverages may be the most widely consumed foods in the world.

High blood pressure in children

Despite popular belief, teens, children and even babies can have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. It's not just a disease for the middle-aged and elderly. As with adults, early diagnosis and treatment can reduce or prevent the harmful consequences of this disease.

High blood pressure in children younger than 10 years old is usually caused by another medical condition. High blood pressure in children can also develop for the same reasons it does in adults — being overweight, eating a poor diet and not exercising.

Pets can lower your blood pressure

Many people have high blood pressure for years without knowing it. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure or kidney failure. The only way to tell if you have high blood pressure is to have your blood pressure checked. According to recent estimates, one in four U.S. adults has high blood pressure, but because there are no symptoms, nearly one-third of these people don't even know they have it. This is why high blood pressure is often called the "silent killer." Get the facts on high blood pressure and how to live a more heart-healthy life. Find out how you can reduce your risks for heart attack and stroke with proper monitoring by a physician and simple lifestyle changes, even if you have high blood pressure.

Normal weight? Yes, you could have a high blood pressure!

Natalie was a 55 year-old patient who came to doctor concerned about her increased blood pressure and the resulting decreased sense of well-being. She is still highly functioning and would like to continue to be active as she gets older. She was not on any blood pressure medications and her starting blood pressure was 170/100. Her major concern was the health insurance physical she had to do next year.

How exercise can effect your blood pressure?

How are high blood pressure and exercise connected? Regular physical activity makes your heart stronger. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. If your heart can work less to pump, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure.

Not only people suffer from high blood pressure

High blood pressure is an extremely important concern in human medicine. But what about our pets? They don’t smoke or worry about the mortgage and they don’t deposit cholesterol in their blood vessels. They do, however, get high blood pressure, especially in age, and here is what you probably should know.

Is sauna safe for you if you have high blood pressure?

Hot tubs and saunas pose no risk to healthy people as long as they are not misused. People with high blood pressure should tolerate saunas well as long as they are not experiencing a hypertensive crisis.

For healthy adults the reduction of blood pressure is a temporary reaction to the body's rise in skin temperature. When a healthy person exits the sauna, blood pressure returns to normal. People with high blood pressure also experience this temporary lowering of blood pressure, but after leaving the sauna their blood pressure can behave abnormally, sometimes rising dramatically.

Does chocolate reduce blood pressure?

Dark chocolate and flavanol-rich cocoa products have attracted interest as an alternative treatment option for hypertension, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous meta-analyses concluded that cocoa-rich foods may reduce blood pressure. Recently, several additional trials have been conducted with conflicting results. 

Music influence on blood pressure

Music is good for your heart.

Music has a long history of healing physical and mental illnesses. Many clinical findings indicate that music reduces blood pressure in various patients and attenuates symptoms in various types of diseases.

Researchers found that people with mild hypertension (high blood pressure) who listened to classical, Celtic or Indian (raga) music for just 30 minutes a day for one month had significant reductions in their blood pressure.

How computer games effect blood pressure

Computer games have long been suspected to be linked with blood pressure and hypertension. It has been hypothesized that marked elevation of blood pressure during play of computer games is a risk factor for future hypertension.

High blood pressure? Watch out for impotence!

High blood pressure is an important cause of erectile dysfunction and impotence. It keeps the arteries that carry blood into the penis from dilating the way they're supposed to.

 It also makes the smooth muscle in the penis lose its ability to relax. As a result, not enough blood flows into the penis to make it erect. Excess pressure in the blood vessels actually causes damage to small arteries in the penis.

Cinnamon lowers high blood pressure

Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices. This flavorful spice made from tree bark has been used for over 4000 years and its beneficial properties have been well known for that whole time. From the very beginning, this sweet spice has been used in teas, as a healing agent to help combat numerous ailments, and even for embalming and mummification processes by ancient Egyptians, according to an article in the Miami Herald. Cinnamon contains some very healthy compounds as well, including fiber, manganese, iron and calcium.

Are you single? Watch your blood pressure!

Marriage has a huge impact on your health, with singles and unhappily married people suffering higher levels of blood pressure than those happily wed.The relationship between what happens in one’s life and the development of illness is well documented.

All you need to know about meat

As a nutritionist I often hear the question: what kind and quantities of meat is needed during the day for patients with high blood pressure?

High blood pressure? Don't avoid sex!

Of course we all know that eating right and exercising are good for us. But do you know that a healthy diet and regular physical activity are directly related to your ability to have normal sexual function?

How tea effects your blood pressure

Tea, having been brewed from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis for almost 4000 years, is the most popularly consumed beverage worldwide, second only to water. Owing to the high consumption of tea, even small effects in persons could have a large effect on public health. Tea contains more than 4000 chemical compounds that may affect the human body in many aspects. There has been a growing interest in recent years in exploring the preventive effect of tea, especially polyphenolic flavonoids in tea, against cardiovascular diseases.

How Viagra effects your blood pressure?

Viagra, an oral therapy for erectile dysfunction, is the citrate salt of sildenafil, a selective inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP).

High blood pressure is not an obstacle to travel

If you have high blood pressure that is controlled by medications, flying is just as safe for you as any of the other passengers on board. There is no evidence that any prescription medication for hypertension will affect your health when flying. Airplane cabins are pressurized so a passenger with high blood pressure is in no danger from a health view point.

Hypertension diet

High Blood Pressure: No Laughing Matter

Laughter may be the best medicine, but if you suffer from hypertension, or high blood pressure as it’s commonly known, you know the condition called the silent killer is no laughing matter. And while regular doctor visits and medication can be important tools in treating hypertension, a healthy lifestyle anchored by a healthy diet is also critical to bringing the illness under control.