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Article: Put the squeeze on high blood pressure. (your health).
- Article from:
- Good Housekeeping
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I'm extremely lucky: On any given day, my blood pressure hovers around 90 over 70--a reading doctors consider optimal Normal pressure is actually 129 over 84 or below. Unfortunately, right now about 50 million Americans have high blood pressure, otherwise known as hypertension, defined as 140 over 90 or above.
Most of us never think about our blood pressure because we can't feel it. High blood pressure, in fact, is often a silent stalker. The longer it goes undiagnosed and untreated, the greater the risk for heart disease, stroke, or kidney problems.
The ups and downs of pressure
Blood pressure measures how hard the heart must work to pump blood ...