Everything you should know about high blood pressure and cholesterol
1. High blood pressure
As blood circulates through a person's body via the blood vessels, it exerts pressure on the walls of these vessels. The pressure is actually required to safely circulate oxygenated blood throughout the body. The amount of pressure exerted on the walls of a person's arteries is called blood pressure.
It is one of the metrics that is often used to determine how healthy a person is. When a patient has high blood pressure measurement, this condition is known as hypertension or high blood pressure. Urgent care is essential when a person has abnormally high blood pressure since it can lead to potentially fatal events, like a heart attack, stroke, heart failure or kidney failure. High blood pressure can also lead to blindness.
Fortunately, figuring out one's blood pressure is a simple task, and there are many affordable devices that can be used to calculate it. The different categories used to classify blood pressure are:
Normal range: 120 mmHgPre-hypertension: 120-139 mmHgThe first stage of high blood pressure: 140-159 mmHgThe second stage of high blood pressure: 160-179 mmHgHypertensive emergency: Over 180 mmHgPeople with high blood pressure rarely display any symptoms, but some do gain weight because of their condition. People with blood pressure readings that are greater than 139 mmHg should seek urgent care. There, they will receive treatments that ensure their blood pressure does not reach the dangerous range.
2. Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy substance that comes from the fats inside blood. A certain amount of it is essential for good health, but too much can cause serious medical problems.
Cholesterol can combine with other materials in a person's blood and form plaque. This is a substance that can partially or completely block the circulation of blood through the body. When such buildups occur in critical areas, like the arteries that supply the heart with blood, it leads to a condition known as atherosclerosis. Blocked arteries can lead to various cardiovascular diseases, as well as a stroke.
Just as is the case with high blood pressure, most people with high levels of cholesterol do not exhibit any symptoms. That is why it is important to get regular blood tests so a physician can check your cholesterol levels and ensure they are within the recommended limits.
There are three different types of cholesterol. These are:
HDL: The term refers to high-density lipoprotein. This is the good type of cholesterol since it transports cholesterol from other parts of the body to the liver where it is removed.LDL: This is the bad type of cholesterol. The term LDL is an initialism for low-density lipoprotein. High levels of LDL causes plaque buildup in a person's arteries.VLDL: This also promotes plaque buildup in a person's arteries. The initialism stands for very low-density protein.