Your blood pressure is high, but you feel just fine, so you don’t give it much thought. To illustrate why this is a huge risk, we’re going to kick off this discussion with a sobering fact — high blood pressure is the number one risk factor for death globally.
Here at Lafferty Family Care, Dr. Scott Lafferty and our team believe that prevention is paramount, especially when it comes to life-threatening conditions. And, make no mistake, high blood pressure, also called hypertension, very much qualifies.
To give you an idea about why we’re so concerned about high blood pressure — and why you should be, too — we present five serious risks that come with the condition.
Before we get into the risks of hypertension, let’s quickly review why it’s so problematic. When you have high blood pressure, the force of the blood against the walls of your arteries is too high, which can weaken the blood vessels.
When you get a blood pressure reading, there are two numbers:
A healthy blood pressure reading should be 120/80 or lower. Anything over 120/80 is considered high blood pressure, which affects nearly half of adults in the United States.
Over time, the extra pressure against your arterial walls can place you at risk for some very serious health issues, five of which we review here:
When your arteries are weak and damaged due to hypertension, it can lead to plaque buildup, which can limit the flow of blood and lead to a heart attack.
Another problem that can arise with weakened arteries due to high blood pressure is that the blood vessels to your brain can become blocked or even burst, leading to stroke.
The blood vessels in your eyes are very small and sensitive. When you have hypertension, the added pressure can damage these vessels and lead to vision issues.
If your blood isn’t flowing freely due to high blood pressure, you can experience sexual function issues, namely erectile dysfunction in men.
Your body relies on your kidneys to filter your blood. If the arteries that feed your kidneys are damaged due to high blood pressure, you can develop kidney disease and even kidney failure.
As if the five health threats above weren;t enough, high blood pressure is also associated with other cardiovascular issues, including heart failure and peripheral artery disease.
Our goal here isn’t to scare you, but the complications that stem from having high blood pressure are frightening enough that we want to take steps now to help you lower your blood pressure before the unthinkable happens. Through medications and lifestyle changes, lowering your blood pressure is highly achievable.
For a comprehensive cardiac prevention assessment, please contact our office in Bentonville, Arkansas, today.
