How High Blood Pressure Affects Heart Disease

This diagnosis can be scary when you are just getting used to a new medication and lifestyle change. This article will explain the relationship between heart disease and high blood pressure.

Our eleven amazing doctors and their medical staff at Iowa Kidney Physicians in Des Moines, IA, can help with your hypertension diagnosis.

Explaining High Blood Pressure

Regular checkups are important for blood pressure control because this disease usually has no warning signs and is nicknamed the “silent killer.”

The only definitive way to determine whether you have high numbers is to wear a blood pressure cuff.

If our doctor suspects high blood pressure, they may ask you to take it daily, usually simultaneously, and keep written records of your numbers. You will have a top number and a bottom number.

• Top number (Systolic number): Gauges the pressure on the walls of your arteries when your heart beats.
• The bottom number (Diastolic number) measures the resting pressure between your heartbeats. 

It is common to have high blood pressure. Over 40% of people in the United States have a diagnosis of high blood pressure. The average number considered a high blood pressure reading is 130 mmHg for the top number and 80 mmHg for the bottom number.

According to the Iowa Kidney Physicians, located in Des Moines, IA, even though you can have no symptoms, you can show symptoms if you consistently show hypertension, such as nosebleeds, headaches, and heart rhythm issues. 

Heart Disease and High Blood Pressure 

When you have a history of high blood pressure, the damage done to your arteries from hypertension can eventually cause damage to your heart structure.

Heart Disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, unrelated to any one condition but a collection of conditions that can damage your heart. So, controlling your diagnosis of hypertension is essential to limit any damage to your heart. 

Treatment

With a diagnosis of hypertension, lifestyle changes need to happen to lower your blood pressure. You can start doing the following things to help lower your blood pressure:.

• Changing your diet to a low-fat and high-fiber diet, including adequate fruits and vegetables that naturally lower your numbers.
• Consistent, gentle exercise like walking will lower blood pressure by strengthening muscles and reducing body fat percentages.
• You can exercise and initiate lifestyle changes. Our doctor may prescribe specific medications that work with lifestyle changes to lower your numbers.  

Call Us Today!

Call Iowa Kidney Physicians in Des Moines, IA, and West Des Moines, IA, at 515-336-6557 to schedule an appointment with one of our eleven skilled doctors to assess your hypertension diagnosis. We can help.