April Work/Life Line: Hypertension

04/14/11

Hypertension, also known as High Blood Pressure, affects 74 million Americans. This includes teenagers and children. Hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disease, and is the leading cause of stroke and a major cause of heart attacks. While the numbers are grim, the good news is it’s manageable and in some cases curable. It is important to be aware of your blood pressure, the causes/risk factors, and steps you can take to prevent hypertension.

What is High Blood Pressure?

• Artery walls can only handle filling to a certain capacity and too much pressure against the artery walls can cause damage; this is hypertension. Hypertension is dangerous because it makes the heart work harder than it needs to to pump blood throughout the rest of the body. The excess stress on the heart can cause the hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis) and ultimately heart failure.
• Individuals that have a blood pressure reading over 120/80 are considered to have high blood pressure

Some causes of High Blood Pressure:

• Smoking
• Being overweight or obese
• Lack of physical activity 
• Too much alcohol consumption (more than 1 to 2 drinks per day)
• Too much salt in the diet
• Stress
• Older age
• Genetics
• Family history of High Blood Pressure
• Chronic kidney disease
• Adrenal and thyroid disorders

Individuals at highest risk:

• People with family members who have high blood pressure
• People who smoke
• African-Americans
• Women who are pregnant
• Women who take birth control pills
• People over the age of 35
• People who are overweight or obese
• People who are not active
• People who drink alcohol excessively
• People who eat too many fatty foods or foods with too much salt

Ways to reduce your risk for hypertension includee:

• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Getting regular exercise
• Reducing salt intake
• Drinking alcohol in moderation
• Reduce Stress

This information was provided by web MD. For more information please visit:  http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/default.htm 

Don’t forget to sign up for the Hypertension Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, April 20th from 12:00- 1:00pm in the Peggy R. Williams Center, HR Conference Room G-52. Please call 4-8000 or e-mail benefits@ithaca.edu to RSVP.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Alison Bowman in Human Resources at abowman@ithaca.edu or x4-8000. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

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