Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood in your arteries. You need a certain amount of pressure in your body to keep the blood flowing.

Your heart pumps blood around your body through the arteries, by contracting and relaxing. When your heart contracts, the blood is forced through the arteries. This is when your blood pressure is at its highest point and is called the systolic pressure. When your heart relaxes between beats, your blood pressure reaches its lowest point, known as diastolic pressure.

The two pressures are written as two numbers – for example, 120/80mmHg. (‘mmHg’ stands for millimetres of mercury.) The first number is the systolic pressure and the second is the diastolic pressure.

The target for the general population is to have a blood pressure below 140/85. (Or, for people who have had a heart attack or a stroke, or who have coronary heart disease or diabetes, the target is to have a blood pressure below 130/80.)

What is high blood pressure?

High blood pressure – also known as hypertension – is when your blood pressure is constantly higher than the recommended level. If you have high blood pressure, you run a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke, and over time it can cause the heart to become abnormally large,or the pumping action of the heart to become less effective.

High blood pressure rarely makes people feel ill, so the only way of knowing if you have high blood pressure is to have it measured. 

What causes high blood pressure? 

In nine out of ten people, there is no definite cause of high blood pressure. However, the following can all play a part.

•      Not doing enough physical activity
•      Being overweight
•      Having too much salt in your diet
•      Drinking too much alcohol
•      Not eating enough fruit and vegetables

Genes are another factor. So, if one or both of your parents have (or had) high blood pressure, you are at more risk of developing it too.

What you can do

If you have high blood pressure, it is essential to control it. Even reducing your blood pressure by a small amount can lower your risk of problems in the future. To reduce your blood pressure, or prevent it from getting high, you can do the following things.

•      Do more physical activity
•      Keep to a healthy weight
•      Cut down on salt
•      Cut down on alcohol
•      Eat more fruit and vegetables

If you do develop high blood pressure, your doctor may prescribe medicine to help reduce your blood pressure and protect your heart.

For more information on blood pressure please download our publication Blood Pressure

Other organisations

Blood Pressure Association Tel 0208 772 4994  www.bpassoc.org.uk

Got any questions about this page?