Controlling Your Blood Pressure Archive

Lifetime cardiovascular risk now plays a role in the decision.

High blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular problems. It forces the heart to pump harder, making it thicker and less efficient over time. High blood pressure also damages the lining of the arteries, providing new sites for plaque growth and greatly increasing the risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and kidney failure.

Treatments can help control symptoms and protect the heart.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) occurs when the arteries serving the lungs become stiff and thick. Blood pressure in the lungs rises, and the right side of the heart must work harder to pump blood to the lungs. Symptoms tend to mimic those of other more common diseases, so diagnosis is often delayed. As the overworked heart struggles to do its job, its right side gradually begins to fail.

Q. I have high blood pressure. Is it worth it to buy a blood pressure monitor to check my pressure at home?

A. Yes. Habitual home blood pressure checks give a more accurate view of your blood pressure than intermittent office-based readings or occasional checks at your drugstore. Home monitoring is particularly helpful for evaluating the effectiveness of lifestyle changes or medications aimed at lowering your blood pressure.

The list of salty foods seems obvious: potato chips, popcorn, soup and other canned foods, hot dogs. Yet sodium lurks in foods you wouldn't expect. The CDC's list of top sodium offenders includes breads and rolls, pizza, poultry, sandwiches, cheese, and pasta dishes.

More than 40% of our daily sodium intake comes from go-to foods like these. Since sodium is everywhere, how can you cut back?

A significant difference may point to increased cardiac risk.

High blood pressure is an important risk factor for heart attack and stroke. That's why blood pressure should stay within the desired range.

To stay in the healthy zone, lock in the basics and talk to your doctor about escalating your medications.

Are you being treated for high blood pressure but your numbers are still higher than you want them to be? Your situation is fairly common, and there is much you can do. First, lock in on the basic moves, like regular exercise, that will help bring blood pressure into line. Then you and your doctor can take additional steps, such as home blood pressure monitoring or reducing salt intake further.

ACE inhibitors beat ARBs hands-down for survival benefit.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) are mainstays of treatment for heart failure. Both help the heart pump more effectively by affecting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which governs blood pressure. So it seems strange that no specific comparison of their impact on death from high blood pressure (hypertension) has ever been performed until recently.

The dangers of a broken heart aren't just for poets and songwriters. Turns out, the risk of heart attack is 21 times higher than normal the first day after the death of a significant loved one and six times higher the first week, according to a study published in the January 9, 2012, Circulation.

"Grieving people are not getting enough sleep and are walking around with elevated levels of adrenaline and stress-related hormones," says Dr. Thomas Lee, a cardiologist and a professor at Harvard Medical School. "These tendencies can lead to increased clamping down of one's arteries, a faster heart rate and elevated blood pressure, all of which can increase the chance of a rupture of atherosclerotic plaques, causing a heart attack."

What you need to know about these blood pressure drugs.

Beta blockers are prescribed for conditions ranging from high blood pressure and glaucoma to anxiety attacks and migraines. They are primarily prescribed to help control hypertension and abnormal heart rhythms, but are also widely prescribed to prevent further heart problems in patients who've had heart attacks or who are suffering from heart failure.

Low blood pressure when standing could signal heart failure