Blood Pressure

What is blood pressure?

Think about it like water through a pipe leading to your shower. If you don’t have enough pressure, you can’t take a nice shower. If there’s too much pressure, the water is gonna blast you (ouch!). The shower is like your organs (kidney, liver etc). The pipes are the blood vessels. When you get you blood pressure checked, we are checking the pressure in the pipes (blood vessels). Your organs need blood to survive and function just like the shower needs water to be a useful. Your body wants a nice comfortable pressure, not too high, not too low, just like the perfect shower.

What should my blood pressure be?

The general answer for this is 120-140/ 60-80, but honestly it depends on the person. Please understand that blood pressure fluctuates depending on what your doing. When your organs need more blood, your blood pressure rises and when they don’t (like when you go to sleep), blood pressure falls. If you have questions about what YOUR blood pressure should be, just ask your doctor!

What happens if my blood pressure is too high?

You can have a stroke. You can also cause immediate organ damage if your blood pressure is too high. If your blood pressure is high over a long period of time, you can start to see irreversible damage to your heart and kidneys.

How can I lower my blood pressure?

I’m glad you asked :). Start with LOSING WEIGHT. Losing weight works wonders for your blood pressure. I recommend changing your diet and starting to exercise regularly. If that doesn’t work, consider talking to your doctor about weight loss medications. If you are at your target weight, or struggling to reach your target weight, your doctor can start you on blood pressure medications. Blood pressure medications are very effective.