High blood pressure, also referred to as hypertension, carries many risks with it, one of the most severe being an increased risk for heart attacks.
Understanding High Blood Pressure
Before determining your risk for a heart attack, it’s important to understand blood pressure. When blood pressure is measured, a systolic and a diastolic reading is taken. The systolic reading is usually the first number listed and measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart is contracting. The diastolic pressure is the pressure within the arteries when the heart is relaxed between beats. A normal reading for an adult is less than 120 (systolic) / 80 (diastolic). An individual is considered to have high blood pressure when his reading is 140/90 or above. Anything over 120/80 and under 140/90 puts a person in a pre-hypertension, or risk, category. Unfortunately, high blood pressure is very common in the United States – approximately 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure.
High blood pressure leads to heart attacks by causing the arteries to narrow, making the heart work harder in order to pump blood through the arteries and contributing to the development of clots. The increased strain on the heart wears it down sooner than normal and contributes to coronary heart disease, in which plaque builds up on the walls of the arteries, causing them to narrow. Once the arteries are narrowed, the flow of blood to the heart decreases and encourages the formation of clots within the arteries. These clots block the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart. When the heart is not receiving enough oxygen, a heart attack can occur.
High blood pressure has no known symptoms, making it difficult to detect until it’s too late. For this reason, it’s important to have your blood pressure checked at least once a year.
If the doctor determines you have high blood pressure or borderline high blood pressure, he will probably encourage you to make some lifestyle changes. A variety of controllable factors can contribute to high blood pressure and should be controlled. They include diet, alcohol consumption, smoking, and activity level.
While symptoms of a heart attack vary with each individual case, there are a number that can indicate a heart problem. These include:
Chest pain. Also called angina, chest pain is usually the most common and well-known symptom of a heart attack. Basically, it’s the heart’s way of telling the body that it isn’t getting enough oxygen. A heart attack results when heart cells begin to die from lack of oxygen. Usually, this type of chest pain is described more as pressure or squeezing.
Pain in the upper body, particularly the jaw, neck, shoulders, and/or arms. As with the chest pain, this is more a squeezing feeling or ache rather than a sharp pain. In some cases it can give off a burning sensation. It could be very mild or very intense.
Lightheadedness, nausea, shortness of breath, or breaking into a cold sweat. Dizziness is also common at the onslaught of a heart attack.
Pallor. Another symptom of a heart attack is increased paleness or pallor in the face, an indication that blood is not flowing properly throughout the body.
Nervousness or feeling of impending doom. Many people who have survived heart attacks talk of a “sixth sense,” or feeling that something bad is about to happen while experiencing a heart attack.
It’s important to remember that not all of these symptoms will be present in the case of a heart attack. There may be one, or there may be all of them.
Regularly screenings for high blood pressure and choosing a healthy lifestyle, in addition to recognizing the symptoms of a heart attack, will greatly reduce your chances of suffering a heart attack.