{"id":1599,"date":"2017-06-07T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T19:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.warnerfamilypractice.net\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2017-06-07T13:38:27","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T20:38:27","slug":"high-blood-pressure-two-numbers-need-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.warnerfamilypractice.net\/high-blood-pressure-two-numbers-need-look\/","title":{"rendered":"High Blood Pressure: The Two Numbers You Need To Look At"},"content":{"rendered":"
Do you have high blood pressure? Does someone you love have it? About 75 million American adults (32%) have high blood pressure\u2014that\u2019s 1 in every 3 adults! That means that we all know someone with high blood pressure. So how do you know if you have high blood pressure?<\/p>\n
There’s only one way to know whether you have high blood pressure – have a doctor or other healthcare professional measure it. Blood pressure numbers, systolic and diastolic, are extremely important numbers. You should know yours.<\/p>\n
Measuring your blood pressure is quick and painless. You can check your blood pressure at a doctor’s office, a pharmacy or at home if you have a blood pressure monitor. First, a doctor or other healthcare professional wraps a special cuff around your arm. The cuff has a gauge on it that will read your blood pressure. The doctor then inflates the cuff to squeeze your arm.<\/p>\n
After the cuff is inflated, the doctor will slowly let air out. While doing this, he or she will listen to your pulse with a stethoscope and watch the gauge. The gauge uses a scale called millimeters of mercury (mmHg) to measure the pressure in your blood vessels.<\/p>\n
Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure. Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and usually given as two numbers, for example, 120 over 80, written as 120\/80 mmHg. Either or both of these numbers may be too high.<\/p>\n
In a blood pressure reading the top number is your systolic pressure, the pressure of the blood when your heart beats. It is considered high if it is consistently 140 mmHg or above, according to the American Heart Association.<\/p>\n