Putting It All Together

• High blood pressure, or hypertension, refers to increased pressure or tension that the circulating blood exerts on the walls of the blood vessels

• Although blood inside the veins is under some pressure, the term hypertension is usually used to mean increased pressure in arteries.

• Blood pressure is determined by the heart rate, blood volume, how vigorously heart pumps, and resistance in blood vessels.

• Increases in heart rate, blood volume, how vigorously the heart pumps, or resistance in blood vessels may increase blood pressure. Hypertension occurs when the body fails to make appropriate adjustments for these changes.

• In the great majority of cases, a single specific cause of high blood pressure cannot be identified. High blood pressure with no known cause is called essential hypertension.

• High blood pressure rarely causes symptoms. It can only be detected with repeated blood pressure measurements obtained by a trained health care professional.

• Treatment of hypertension is based on the how high the blood pressure is, the presence or absence of other cardiovascular disease risk factors, and the presence or absence of damage to organs caused by the high blood pressure

• There are many simple lifestyle and dietary changes that can be made to help reduce blood pressure and reduce the need for medication.

• If necessary, there are a large number of safe and effective medications that can be prescribed to reduce and control high blood pressure.

• Even if your doctor prescribes medication for high blood pressure, you should also make lifestyle and dietary changes to control your blood pressure.

• Properly treated, high blood pressure should not interfere with daily living.

• Failure to control high blood pressure can lead to serious health problems, even death.