Most people recognize the value of adhering to a healthy diet, getting regular, good-quality exercise, and ensuring that they get enough sleep every night. These three activities can help to ensure that a person’s body is in the best possible condition over a long period of time and can also reduce the likelihood of acquiring ill health because of being unfit, overly fatigued, or obese.
It is also important to check your blood pressure on a regular basis. This is often overlooked, but if high or low blood pressure goes unidentified over extended periods of time, it may cause health problems.
This article explains three key reasons why it is important to check blood pressure at least once every two years if you are in reasonable health.
High blood pressure can be life-threatening
It is a fact that in the UK alone, an estimated 7 million people may not be aware that they have high blood pressure. The problem is that high blood pressure is not a condition that most people can feel without having their blood pressure checked. As a result of this, it can often go undetected for a period of years until it triggers far more serious or even life-threatening conditions. The risk of having a stroke is linked to having high blood pressure, and being a smoker can increase this risk further. Strokes are a medical emergency when bleeding occurs on the brain due to ruptured blood vessels. This type of stroke (known as a hemorrhagic stroke) can be at greater risk of occurring if a person has high blood pressure for extended periods of time.
Monitoring allows for diagnosis and treatment
As stated above, high blood pressure is a medical condition that often goes undetected, and because of this, if it is not detected, then the reason for it cannot be diagnosed, and an effective treatment plan cannot be commenced. In many cases, early detection of high blood pressure may mean that simple lifestyle changes are all that is needed to rectify the issue. These can be as straightforward as reducing your alcohol intake, losing weight, cutting back on salt in your diet, or getting more regular exercise. In a GP surgery, the doctors will have access to a blood pressure monitor UK which can quickly and painlessly record a patient’s blood pressure. This information will then be used as a basis for offering lifestyle advice or specific blood pressure-lowering medication if high blood pressure is recorded.
Some people are at a greater risk
While it is recognized that no person is immune from being at risk of high blood pressure, certain populations may be more likely to have this condition, and lifestyle choices can have a significant impact as well. For instance, people of Black African and Black Caribbean ethnicity are at greater risk of having higher blood pressure, as are people aged sixty and over. Having a family history of high blood pressure significantly increases the risk of getting the condition, as does having an unhealthy lifestyle. It is important to remember that identifying high blood pressure earlier can limit the damage it does to the body and the future risks to health that it may pose. High-risk groups of people should have their blood pressure checked on a more regular basis by their GP, but every person should strive to lead a healthy life to reduce the risks of having high blood pressure.