Getting screened for high blood pressure is so important and so easy. ¡Es fácil! Failure to get tested and uncontrolled blood pressure could lead to heart disease and other complications. It is estimated that over one-fourth of the population is living with high blood pressure and does not know (3).
Your blood pressure, also called hypertension (hipertensión) reading comes with two numbers in the unit mmHg, millimeters of Mercury.
The first number is the measurement of the pressure created from your heart beating. This is called your systolic pressure. Most say that a number over 140 is too high.
When the heart is in between beats, the diastolic pressure (the second number) tells you what the pressure is inside of your blood vessel during that time. You should be concerned if it is over 90.
Mild hypertension, also known as pre-hypertension, is anything higher than 120/80 (4). Unless changes to your lifestyle are made, this will probably develop into more severe high blood pressure.
