Blood Pressure

Blood pressure measures the pressure of the blood in your arteries as the heart pumps it around your body. Blood pressure does not stay the same all the time; it is constantly changing to meet your needs.

If your blood pressure remains high, it means the heart is working too hard, which can be caused by the hardening or narrowing of the arteries, although other factors may play a role. Imagine a garden hose being squashed under a person’s foot or a car wheel. It greatly increases the pressure inside the hose, causing damage to the hose and decreasing the supply the hose is delivering.

High blood pressure (also known as ‘hypertension’) can lead to serious problems, such as a heart attack, stroke, heart failure or kidney disease. There are often no warning signs, which is why it is important to have regular blood pressure checks.

 

How is blood pressure checked and is there a cost?
There is no fee for checking your blood pressure, which can be done during your consultation using our automatic arm cuff blood pressure device.

The automatic blood pressure device can also detect an irregular heartbeat. This is a very handy tool as an irregular heartbeat can influence the results of the measurement, as well as having other implications for your heart health.

To take your blood pressure, the cuff is fitted over your upper arm, level with your heart. The cuff is automatically inflated and you will feel a tight constriction around your arm. The cuff then gradually deflates and we have our reading, all within the space of less than a minute.

What should my blood pressure be?
Clinical studies are increasingly demonstrating the damage possible from high blood pressure and it is now generally recommended that we aim for a reading of 120/80 (mmHg).

The first figure (120) is called the systolic blood pressure, whilst the second figure (80) is the diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is a measure of the pressure as the heart pumps the blood into the arteries when it beats. The diastolic blood pressure is the pressure when the heart is at rest between beats.

What can we do about high blood pressure?
Thankfully, even if your blood pressure is measured as high, there is plenty we can do to reduce your reading. A program to assist high blood pressure back to normal may include simple lifestyle and dietary changes as well as natural medicines to assist the cardiovascular system to return to a healthy blood pressure.

A natural approach to hypertension can assist in returning blood pressure into the normal range quickly and effectively.