Monitoring Your Blood Pressure Could Literally Save Your Life

High blood pressure, which is also known as hypertension, has been given the nickname of the 'silent killer'. High blood pressure can be a fatal condition that develops gradually over a long period of time and the majority of people do not experience any signs or symptoms of the condition at all. As a consequence of its lack of signs and symptoms, high blood pressure frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated.

In the United States it was estimated that approximately 50 million adults suffered from hypertension in the early 1990’s. This figure has been on the rise ever since. By the beginning of the 21st century, it was estimated that about 65 million people had high blood pressure and today that number has topped 72 million. This figure means that approximately one out of every three adults in the US now suffers from high blood pressure.

Here are just some of the things revealed by recent studies:

30% of people with high blood pressure are not aware of their condition and are therefore not receiving any treatment.

15% of the people know that they have high blood pressure but either they are not getting any treatment for it or they do not bother to follow the recommended treatment.

25% of high blood pressure sufferers are aware of their condition but do not at present have their condition under control.

What this means is that only about 30% of those people with hypertension are presently receiving the correct treatment and have the condition under control.

Even though it has often been said that it is not possible to tell if someone has high blood pressure there are some tell-tale signs that may indicate that you have hypertension.  Some of these symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, dizziness and nausea.

High blood pressure is one of the main causes of death in the United States today and it also considerably increases the risk from several life threatening conditions like heart attack, heart failure, cardiovascular disease and kidney failure.

Due to the nature of this condition it is sensible to keep an eye on things by checking your blood pressure at regular intervals and this can be done by visiting your doctor and asking for a blood pressure check. However, this is not always convenient and so a better option is to simply check your own pressure at home. There are a number of blood pressure monitors available today for use at home and these are both quick and simple to use and are also reasonably inexpensive.

Making use of your own blood pressure monitor at home allows you to keep an eye on the blood pressure of the whole family and will give you a great deal of peace of mind and ensure that you detect any developing problems early on so that they can be treated easily.