Ithaca College

If you are like most people, you only get your blood pressure checked when you make a visit to the doctor’s office. Most likely you can't remember what your blood pressure was or indeed what it should be.

Well, hassle-free, monthly blood pressure checks are coming to your office building!

Is it really that important to know?

About 50 million Americans age 6 and older have high blood pressure.

Of those people with high blood pressure, 30 percent don't know they have it.

Of all people with high blood pressure, 11 percent aren't on therapy (special diet or drugs), 25 percent are on inadequate therapy, and 34 percent are on adequate therapy.

The cause of 90-95 percent of the cases of high blood pressure isn't known; however, high blood pressure is easily detected and usually controllable.

The prevalence of hypertension in blacks in the United States is among the highest in the world. Compared to whites, blacks develop high blood pressure earlier in life and their average blood pressures are much higher.

High blood pressure was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death in approximately 118,000 deaths in the United States in 2000.

What "No Pressure Blood Pressure" intends to provide is hassle-free, monthly blood pressure checks in your office building. Undergraduate Exercise and Sport Science students will be accompanied either by a graduate student and/or a staff member from the Ithaca College Wellness Clinic to your office building on predetermined dates and times to check blood pressures.

Should you decide to participate, it should take about one minute of your time and you will receive both the peace of mind in knowing what your blood pressure is and also a handy wallet-sized card on which to record your blood pressure.

"No Pressure Blood Pressure" kicks off on Friday, the 13th of February, in celebration and support of American Heart Month.

For more information regarding blood pressure visit the IC Wellness Clinic.



Contributed by Suzanne Connolly