High Diastolic Blood Pressure - What Does it Mean?

If you have or know somebody with a high diastolic blood pressure reading then you may be asking just what the reading means. What signal is it sending? Just what is diastolic pressure anyway?

Let's start with the last question. I'm sure you're familiar with the blood pressure cuff and the procedure for taking your pressure. Blood pressure is the force that the blood places against the walls of your blood vessels and is measured in millimeters of mercury or mm Hg.

The heart actually places two pressures on the blood vessels. When it pumps, it exerts pressure that is measured as the systolic pressure. When the heart relaxes and refills the left chamber in preparation of the next pump, the pressure on your blood vessels is reduced and this is called diastolic pressure.

These measurements are expressed as two numbers with systolic first and diastolic second. Normal blood pressure is 110/80 or lower.

For a long time emphasis was placed on the systolic pressure simply because it was placing the most strain on the vessel system. Recently there has been more attention paid to the relationship between systolic and diastolic and there are growing concerns that a high diastolic pressure can indicate a number of problems.

Most recently, high diastolic pressure has been associated with a reduced cognition function. In other words it may boggle your mind and your ability to perform to pay attention, comprehend or perform complex tasks. There is no current evidence that this condition is tied to Alzheimer's but studies are continuing.

Another fairly recent discovery is that high diastolic pressure may be a more accurate warning signal of an impending heart attack than systolic pressure. Again the studies are not definitive but are ongoing.

Simply put, high blood pressure is a condition that you definitely want to control. HBP affects over 60 million Americans and has earned the nickname "Silent Killer" because it has no outward symptoms. It kills 50,000 Americans each year and contributes to another 300,000 deaths.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that it not only can be controlled, but reversed in 90% of cases. If you are diagnosed with HBP and your doctor puts you on blood pressure medication, you owe it to yourself, particularly if there is a history of the disease in your family, to explore what you can do in your lifestyle to reverse the condition.

Failing to make changes in diet, exercise and stress management condemns you to a life reliant on medication. Do yourself a favor and learn how you can make small changes in your life that can make huge changes in your heart health. Your heart will thank you and so will your family.