Did you know that the American Heart Association changed the guidelines surrounding blood pressure, and what constitutes hypertension (high blood pressure) in 2017? There are five stages of blood pressure, and monitoring it is very important to ensure good heart health as you age. Measuring blood pressure is even more important given that the only way to tell if you have high blood pressure or hypertension, is to measure it.
What Is Blood Pressure?
So what exactly is blood pressure? Blood pressure is the pressure of circulating blood in our bodies against the walls of our blood vessels. This pressure happens as our heart pumps blood through our circulatory system. When we measure blood pressure we’re usually shown two numbers, measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). The top number (or first number) is systolic blood pressure, which is the pressure used when our heart beats. While diastolic blood pressure is the number on the bottom (or shown second), which is the pressure that already exists in our arteries between heartbeats.
Why Track Blood Pressure?
According to the American Heart Association, over 85 million people in the United States alone have high blood pressure. It is slightly more prevalent in males, but women are more likely to develop hypertension after menopause. High blood pressure is often deemed a silent killer as it sometimes has no cause and many people don’t realize they have it. Making regular blood pressure monitoring an important thing for all adults to do.
Why New guidelines?
Harvard-affiliated doctor, Dr. Paul Conlin stated that guidelines for blood pressure are not updated regularly, and instead only when there is new and enough evidence to suggest that previous guidelines are not longer accurate. Under the newer guidelines for blood pressure, hypertension is measured at 130/80 mmHg for all adults. These new numbers show that more people are now at risk of hypertension. Making it imperative that we develop regular practice to monitor and manage blood pressure.
How to Track Blood Pressure?
There are many medical devices you can buy that measure blood pressure, and you should keep track of your readings somewhere like a notebook. You can also get it measured at most pharmacies as well as doctors offices and hospitals. However, These devices can be bulky, costly, and confusing to use. veyetals, a wellness app developed by MarkiTech (Markitech.AI ™), in collaboration with Queen’s University Computer, Vision and AI Lab, uses a real-time health monitoring system to measure these biomarkers and more. Within 90-95% accuracy levels using your smartphone’s camera. veyetals is easy to access, use, and track information on, making healthcare more accessible to at-risk populations without the need for costly medical devices.
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Credits: Harvard Health, Hypertension Canada
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