What is blood pressure?
Your heart pumps blood around your body. This is to deliver oxygen and nutrients to different organs. Blood pressure is the force your heart uses to pump blood through your arterial blood vessels.
How is blood pressure measured?
We use two numbers when measuring blood pressure: the systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
High blood pressure is more common if you are of black African, black Caribbean descent or South Asian. It sometimes runs in families and can increase as you get older.
What causes blood pressure?
Sometimes it is not clear what causes high blood pressure, but there are factors that increase your risk. These are…
- Being overweight
- Not being active
- Not having enough sleep
- Eating too much salt
- Not eating enough fruit or vegetables
- Drinking too much alcohol or caffeine
What are the risks of high blood pressure?
High blood pressure does not usually have noticeable symptoms. But if it is not treated it can damage your blood vessels, heart and other organs.
It can lead to…
- Heart disease, heart attack or stroke
- Kidney disease
- Problems with your eyesight
- Vascular dementia
If you have high blood pressure, reducing it even a small amount can help to lower your risk of these health problems.