Show Watch that Jf High Hh s Blood bood Pressure Presse g Sometimes when a person gets gels into a huff hurr his companions companions compan ions joke Watch that high blood pressure High blood pressure if one really has hasit it is no joke AFFLICTING an estimated Americans the disorder dis dis- disorder order is the second major villain villain vil lain behind the complex of oC heart diseases responsible for about 54 percent of all deaths in the United States today The first is better belter known as ns hardening of the arteries Very often these two basic disorders work in collaboration each extending the damage wrought by theother theother the theother other to the heart brain kidneys kidneys kid kid- and other vital organs Nor is high blo blood d pressure a fleeting episode Its It's true that your blood pressure may mayno mayco no go up when hen youre you're angry but just as one Clone swallow not a sum summer mer one rise doesn't mean high blood pressure pressure pres pres- sure swe or hypertension on as the doctors call it H Hypertension means that your blood pressure pressure pres pres- sure has been found to be higher high high- er than what doctors consider normal on at al least more than one occasion WHAT IS BLOOD pressure I Its It's simply the force exerted by the blood against the artery artery ar are ar- ar tery walls It keeps the blood moving mo through the arteries to all parts of oC the bod body Its It's I alwa always s 's stronger at the moment moment mo mo- mo- mo moment ment the heart beats reduced when the heart rests between beats The doctor measure the blood pressure at these two instants which explains wh why blood pressure readings are always alwa's expressed in two figures for example 70 Now what about high blood pressure As the blood travels through the body it passes into smaller and smaller ar arteries r- r teries until it reaches the tin tin- tinIest tiniest iest lest ones called arterioles In high blood pressure the arterioles arterioles arterioles ar ar- tighten up for some reason and form a bottleneck to the easy flow of oC blood The pressure builds up behind these narrowed areas and I when this condition persists persist I in other words is not simply the Uie result of oC a short-lived short I stress like anger the owner of this circulatory circulator system has high blood pressure BECAUSE the heart has to work harder to supply enough force e to get the blood through the bottlenecks the increased burden over a period of time lime may cause the heart to enlarge enlarge en en- large and nd become incapable of oC performing as efficiently as asit asH asit it H should This is one reason why high blood r l' e should get medical attention Medical science has yet et to discover the precise cause of oC essential n s i f ion o n that is the kind of oC high blood pressure affecting perhaps 90 percent of all sufferers This is a top priority target of oC Heart Fund research since itis it itis t is believed that thai methods of oC prevention or even cure will willbe willbe be found Cound once the causes are arc established I MEANWHILE 1 u s strides already have been made in the management of oC high blood pressure man many of oC them speeded by Heart Fund dollars For one thing physicians can identify and often oCten correct the cause of oC a minority or of causes perhaps ten percent For another new chugs drugs have been discovered which effectively relieve essential essential es essential hypertension Since the high blood pressure usually usual usual- I ly returns once the drug has been slopped stopped these drugs are arc not considered curative But with many patients the they appear appear ap ape ap- ap pear to keep blood pressure down more or less permanently permanent permanent- ly Iy if they arc are taken as prescribed presCrIbed pre pre- scribed b by the physician High blood pressure is one of oC the many disorders of or the vascular system by your our Heart Association which also concerns itself with the reduction of death and disability disability disability ity from more than 20 separate separate sepa sepa- rate li h art rt diseases |