Hypertension triples your risk of dying from a heart attack and increases your risk of stroke sevenfold over someone with normal blood pressure. That's 2,600 per day, or 1 every 33 seconds, which accounts for 41.4 percent of the total deaths in the United States. Imagine, nearly half of all Americans will die from cardiovascular disease-and hypertension is a primary contributor to many of these deaths. If you don't take control of and effectively manage your blood pressure, it will take control of you. Although hypertension is extremely common, it is painless and usually symptom-free.
Hypertension does occasionally give subtle warning signs.
You might, for example, experience troublesome headaches. These are usually located in the back of the head and upper neck and are most acute in the morning, when blood pressure is relatively low. Vision problems, dizziness, fatigue, abnormal sweating, insomnia, shortness of breath, and excessive flushing of the face are other symptoms you might experience. Any one or a combination of these might signal hypertension. Although these symptoms could also stem from other conditions, if you are experiencing any of them I urge you to consult your physician immediately and have your blood pressure monitored.