High blood pressure – about 20 to 30 million people in Germany are affected. The treacherous thing about it is that by the time it is diagnosed, the disease has usually already caused damage for years without being noticed. High blood pressure cannot be cured, but it can be reduced. High blood pressure (arterial hypertension) is a widespread disease – one in four adults in Germany suffers from it. The dangers of hypertension are still underestimated. This is mainly due to the fact that hypertension usually does not cause any symptoms at the beginning. If the diagnosis of hypertension is then made by chance or as part of a preventive checkup, it is difficult for those affected to accept having to do something about a “measured value” or abstract values.
High blood pressure – an overview
Symptoms due to secondary diseases often only appear after years in the case of high blood pressure. These can then usually not be reversed. Only if arterial hypertension is detected early and counteracted can serious and potentially fatal consequences be avoided.
High blood pressure can affect virtually every organ. In the long term, the increased blood pressure inside the vessels damages the arteries in particular, which in turn supply the entire body with blood. Complications in the brain, eyes, heart and kidneys are particularly common. Lowering high blood pressure – that is thus the goal of any treatment. And to do so in such a way that the blood pressure shows values that are within the normal range throughout the day.
Often, a change in lifestyle is enough to combat high blood pressure at the outset: Exercise, sport, reducing excess weight, a balanced diet, reducing stress. In the next step, medication against high blood pressure is indicated – initially usually just one active ingredient, later also combinations of several substances. In this way, blood pressure can usually be adjusted well through medication and one’s own efforts.
High blood pressure: definition
Blood pressure is caused by the heart constantly pumping oxygen-rich blood from the lungs through the arteries to the entire organism. In the process, the blood travels a great distance. To cover this distance, the heart builds up pressure to propel the blood – which is in turn transmitted by the blood to the vessel walls. Blood pressure fluctuates between two values:
- The pressure wave generated by the contraction of the left ventricle as blood is expelled from the heart is called systolic blood pressure.
- The pressure in the arteries that remains when the heart is just filling back up with blood (and which results primarily from the elasticity of the arteries) is called diastolic blood pressure. It is lower than the systolic blood pressure.
These values are measured with certain devices and are expressed as the pressure of a column of mercury (mm Hg). In the process, certain normal values are defined. If one or both values are above when measured several times at rest, it is called high blood pressure. Depending on the severity, this is divided into three degrees: mild, moderate and severe. In healthy individuals, blood pressure values at rest are permanently below 140/90 mmHg.
