by Morris Kiema Kilunda

Created on: June 10, 2008

Hypertension is a medical condition that is characterized by above average blood pressure. Hypertension is caused by gradual increase in resistance to blood flow in the arteries such that high blood pressure is sustained even when the person is resting. This overworks the heart and it may enlarge and fail to pump blood effectively. Blood pressure is a numeric measure of the force that flowing blood exerts in the blood vessels. Under normal circumstances, blood pressure increases following stress, anxiety or increased exercise like running or may increase as a result of a horror dream when one is sleeping and this is associated with flight hormone.

Blood pressure is measured by using a monitor termed as sphygmomameter. Sphygmomameter is that is attached to a cuff on its end. The cuff is placed around the upper arm and is inflated to a certain level and simultaneously deflated slowly. An in-built sensor provides information on the blood pressure by means of a stethoscope. The numeric data is expressed as two numbers. For instance, for a normal person, the blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg where 120 denotes systolic blood pressure when the heart cardiac muscles contract to pump blood and is expected highest blood pressure and 80 denotes diastolic blood pressure when the heart cardiac muscles relax and is accompanied by opening of valves and entry of blood into the heart chambers. Blood pressure becomes a medical concern when the blood pressure is at least 140/85 mm Hg.
The main predisposing factors for hypertension are mainly lifestyle trends that include smoking, obesity, drinking a lot of alcohol, lack of exercises, and a diet that contains a lot of trans- fats. This applies for the primary hypertension. Secondary hypertension is caused by kidney diseases, endocrine diseases, contraceptive pills, narrowing of the aorta due to atheroma and thrombus, use of steroid medicines, and pregnancies that are associated with pre-eclampsia.

Hypertension Symptoms
Hypertension is symptom less but the patient could experience headaches, blurred vision, fits and black outs. A patient of hypertension is likely to be predisposed to cardiovascular diseases like angina, stroke, heart attack, atria fibrillation and damage of kidneys.
Diagnosis is achieved by having blood pressure taken as part of routine medical examination. Other tests help to determine chances of opportunistic secondary hypertension development like analysis of the urine to determine presence of protein or amino acids

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