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Home > Get Healthy > Blood Pressure > 5 signs you're at risk for high blood pressure

5 signs you're at risk for high blood pressure

You could have high blood pressure and not even know it. Find out if you're at risk and take action for better health

By Lisa Bendall

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Know your risk

You may think your blood pressure is fine because you feel fine. But did you know that most people with hypertension won’t notice any physical signs? “High blood pressure doesn’t have any symptoms until you are significantly at risk of having organ damage,” says family physician Dr. Richard Ward with Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network. “It’s wrong for people to think that ‘I feel well, therefore I can’t have high blood pressure.’”

What do the numbers mean when blood pressure is taken? The top number – your systolic blood pressure – measures the amount of pressure your blood puts on the walls of your blood vessels when your heart pumps. The bottom number is the diastolic pressure, or the resting pressure between heartbeats. If your blood pressure measures 120/80 or below, it’s considered healthy. But if it measures 140/90 or above – or 130/80 if you have diabetes – you need to be treated.

While anyone can develop high blood pressure, certain individuals are more likely than others to have a problem. Want to calculate your risk? Here are five signs you might have hypertension.

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3 Comments

That is very true males do not get checked enough. I found out vaccidently that my blood pressure was very high,at 200 Today I take 2 pills and am good .

Submitted by Tim Parent on Wed, 2012-08-22 10:48am.

It has been suggested that those blood pressure machines in drug stores are set artificially high with the purpose of encouraging one to seek the drustores help. Sell more drugs perhaps?

Submitted by RAC on Wed, 2012-08-22 8:47am.

This is my understanding re blood pressure from internet sources. Blood pressure results from arteries becoming stiff. Hyperglycemia (glucose spikes after a meal) causes the most problems. Glucose can damage any blood vessel in the body. Glucose glycates proteins and makes blood vessels narrower. Glucose binds to LDL particles which then cannot be used by the body. A low fat/high carbohydrate diet raises triglycerides, reduces HDL and increases number of small dense LDL. Glucose damages blood vessel walls and makes them porous allowing LDL particles to be trapped in the artery wall where they can become oxidized. Oxidized LDL particles are removed by macrophages or turn into foam cells and plaque.
Bottom line: the sugar does all the damage not the cholesterol. The diet is everything.

Submitted by andy on Thu, 2012-06-07 6:13am.