“Hypertension” is what the medical community calls high blood pressure. As a general rule, a person is labeled “hypertensive” when blood pressure is above the ideal 120/80. Some people may be predisposed to high blood pressure, due to their genes, but there are other factors that contribute to it.

So that you can better understand your high blood pressure, you need to know what it really is. Your blood pressure is measured by getting the amount of pressure your blood is exerting against the walls of your blood vessels. If more pressure is being forced against those walls, you will get a high number.

Think of a balloon as it is being filled with water. You will see that the balloon stretches as more and more water is being put into it. As you continue to fill the balloon, you can see that the balloon is thinning out, and eventually stretch itself to the breaking point.

If you allow your blood pressure to get high and remain there unchecked, your vessels will suffer the same fate as the overfilled balloon. They can and will eventually burst. The location of the burst vessel determines the severity of the results. If it’s a brain vessel, you can have a stroke. If it’s a vessel that feeds blood to the heart, you can have a heart attack or suffer complete heart failure.

‘Silent killer’ is what high blood pressure is often referred as. One day you feel fine and you don’t feel any symptomsthen the pressure becomes so great that it causes a life-threatening episode.

The top number of a blood pressure reading, or the systolic pressure, measures the pressure within the blood vessels with each ‘beat’ of the heart as it pumps blood out. The bottom number, or the diastolic pressure, measures the pressure within the blood vessels in between beats, when your heart is temporarily at rest.

Of the two numbers, the bottom number is often seen as more critical. If your diastolic pressure is over the ideal number of 80, this means that extreme pressure is being exerted on your vessels, even when your heart is at rest. With high blood pressure, the spurting force of the blood as it leaves the heart the next time could be the one that proves to be too much.

So what can you do to lower your blood pressure? For starters, if you’re overweight, get serious about taking off the extra pounds. Try to alleviate, if not eliminate, causes of stress in your life. Stop smoking and exercise more.

Or try something a little easier, just as effective and even quicker, my Hypertension Program I created to help reduce your chance of heart attack or stroke by lowering your blood pressure to acceptable levels. It doesn’t involve drastic lifestyle changes or hours of sweating in a gym.

It’s a series of easy, simple exercises which only take a few minutes a day and which you can do with little effort. The impact it will have on your blood pressure numbers is nothing short of life-saving.