Starter Packs Alpha Nutrition Health Education Arterial Disease Hypertension Diseases of blood vessels are a major cause of premature disability and death in our society. Well-known risk factors are family history, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, excess body fat, and physical inactivity. Proper, adequate diet revision should be aggressively sought as a solution to this major endemic disease problem, if not by national policy, then by personal prerogative.
Blood pressure varies with activities and time of day.
New evidence suggests that lower systolic pressures are healthier but the criteria for blood pressure treatment over age 70 should permit systolic readings below 170 without treatment. Terms Systolic Pressure is the first, higher reading - a transient pressure peak when the heart is contracting and forcing blood through the arterial system. Diastolic pressure is the second lower reading - the sustaining pressure in the arterial system when the heart is filling with blood. The smaller branches can contract to increase the resistance to flow, thus increasing blood pressure. To reduce pressure, you dilate the smaller arteries, increasing the flow rate.