High Blood Pressure

The Risks, and What You Can Do

It is one of the primary risk factors for heart disease that you can control.
70% of adults age 65 and above have high blood pressure, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
It means the force of blood flowing through the blood vessels is too high.
Develops slowly over time, and becomes more common and severe with age.
Not curable, but can be controlled effectively through lifestyle changes and medication.
May be associated with stroke or heart attack if untreated.

Evidence indicates that most high blood pressure has no symptoms, which why it is known as a "silent killer."
Symptoms like headache, changes in vision or dizziness may be related. However, they are not always the result of high blood pressure.
Be aware of risks that increase the chances of high blood pressure. These risks include modifiable and non-modifiable factors.
- Modifiable factors can be corrected and include:
- Non modifiable factors cannot be corrected and include:
High sodium diet
Sedentary lifestyle
Excess alcohol drinking
Life stressors
Smoking
Age
Family history
Race (African Americans have a higher rate of high blood pressure)
Gender (before 64, men are more likely to have high blood pressure than women. At 65 or older, women are more likely)
Kidney disease

Recent recommendations encourage people to check blood pressure on a regular basis, either by home blood measure monitors or at an office visit.
Record your readings and check with your doctor. Download your own blood pressure log on this page: med.unr.edu/aging/ngec/health-education-and-resources.
What is normal and what is abnormal? An easy-to-read chart at heart.org/bplevels will help you understand the numbers on your blood pressure reading.

Losing weight and keeping your weight healthy can lower blood pressure by 1 mmHg per 2.2 lbs. lost.
Maintaining physical activity, at least to 90-150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, can lower blood pressure by 2 to 8 mmHg.
Limiting salt intake to no more than 1,500 mg per day can be expected to lower blood pressure by 2 to 6 mmHg.
Following the DASH diet is expected to lower blood preesure by 3 to 11 mmHg. (See References below for information.)
Limiting alcoholic drinks (1 or less per day for women, 2 or less per day for men) is expected to lower blood pressure by 3 to 4 mmHg.
Managing stress through exercise, meditation, deep breathing, yoga will relieve the emotional increase of blood pressure.
Quitting smoking has a high impact on blood pressure control. Get information about quitting from the World Health Association (https://tinyurl.com/who-smoking) and Sanford Center for Aging.
More on lifestyle changes: https://www.cardiosmart.org/topics/healthy-living.

American Heart Association: High Blood Pressure https://tinyurl.com/aha-heart-blood-pressure
American Colege of Cardiology: High Blood Pressure in Adults: Guideline For the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management. https://www.acc.org/guidelines/hubs/high-blood-pressure
Harvard Medical School: Information on the DASH diet: https://tinyurl.com/harvard-dash-diet
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Information on the DASH diet: https://tinyurl.com/eatright-dash
Harvard Health Publishing: Reading the new blood pressure guidelines. https://tinyurl.com/harvard-bp-guidelines
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Blood Pressure Control. https://tinyurl.com/cdc-control-blood-pressure
American College of Cardiology: CardioSmart page: https://www.cardiosmart.org/home

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Information prepared by Amr Alkasir, MD, August 2020

Updated April 13, 2021