Your provider places a fabric cuff around your upper arm and pumps it full of air. Your provider then listens to your heartbeat while the air lets out of the cuff.

High blood pressure is an extremely important concern in human medicine. High stress lifestyle, smoking, and high salt diet all contribute to this potentially dangerous condition. But what about our pets? They don't smoke or worry about the mortgage and they don't deposit cholesterol in their blood vessels. They do, however, get high blood pressure especially in age and here is what you probably should know.

Problems from high blood pressure arise when a blood vessel gets too small for the high pressure flow going through it. The pressure would cause the garden hose to explode and that is what happens to a blood vessel too small for the pressure going through it. Instead of water going everywhere, as in the garden hose analogy, bleeding results.

Since the affected vessels are small, the bleeding may not be noticeable but a lot of little bleeds and a lot of blood vessel destruction can create big problems over time. The retina of the eye is especially at risk, with blindness (either sudden or gradual) often being the first sign of latent high blood pressure. The kidney also is a target as it relies on tiny vessels to filter toxins from the bloodstream.

High blood pressure is common, but it usually doesn't cause any symptoms so many people don't know they have it. The only way you can find out if your blood pressure is high is to have it checked. High blood pressure that is not properly treated after many years can lead to a heart attack, heart failure, a stroke and kidney disease.

When blood pressure is high, it starts to damage the blood vessels, heart, and kidneys. High blood pressure is called a 'silent killer', because it doesn't usually cause symptoms while it is causing this damage. High blood pressure puts stress on the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, and blood vessels.

High blood pressure is linked to arterial endothelial dysfunction. The endothelium is the inner lining of your artery walls. Researchers have been monitoring the effects of acute/short duration rises in blood pressure, such as what occurs during strength training, to determine the effect on endothelial function.

It's been determined acute rises in blood pressure impairs endothelial function in untrained individuals and regular resistance training helps protect against vascular dysfunction. At one time, strength lifting was discouraged if you lived with it. Regular physical activity that includes moderate strength training, helps promote a lower blood pressure.

Blood pressure measurements are read as two numbers. Systolic pressure: higher number, normal reading is 120 millimeters of mercury (mmhg) or less. Diastolic pressure: lower number, normal reading is 80 mmhg or less. High blood pressure is defined as systolic pressure greater than 140 mmhg and/or diastolic pressure greater than 90 mmhg. If your systolic blood pressure is between 120-139 mmhg, or your diastolic pressure is between 80- 89 mmhg. Your doctor will recommend monitoring and lifestyle changes.

Someone with a systolic pressure of 120 and a diastolic pressure of 80 has a blood pressure of 120/80, or 120 over 80. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney failure. The longer it's left untreated, the more serious its complications can become.

High blood pressure is easily detectable and usually controllable with lifestyle modifications such as increasing physical activity or reducing dietary salt intake, with or without medications. The joint national committee on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure (jnc-7) recommends that adults have their blood pressure checked regularly. Statistics from cdc's national center for health statistics as published by the American Heart Association, Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics -2005 Update.

Taking medication or making changes to your lifestyle, such as eating less salt, exercising and losing weight, can help to keep your blood pressure down. To understand why you have high blood pressure and how treatments work, it helps to know a bit about how blood flows through your body and what controls the pressure.

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