Do You Have High Blood Pressure?

One of the riskiest medical conditions that often goes unnecessarily
undiagnosed is high blood pressure. Testing for high blood pressure and
treating it if this disease is diagnosed is relatively simple, but many
people just do not regularly schedule check-ups or otherwise test their
blood pressure. Unfortunately, high blood pressure is the precursor to many
serious diseases and medical conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.
It can also lead to heart failure, heart attack, and stroke if not treated.
By being sure to regulate your blood pressure closely, you can prevent
something more serious from happening to your body.

High blood pressure causes an excess amount of stress on the artery walls.
This causes the heart to have to pump harder, which promotes unhealthy
tissue growth and a weakening of the heart muscle. When the heart muscle is
weak, you can inadvertently cause it to stop if you overexert yourself. High
blood pressure is also a symptom that points to over potential problems for
your heart. For example, when high blood pressure is caused by plaque
build-up in the artery walls, you should understand that the most major risk
of this is heart attack. If too much plaque builds up at a specific section
of the blood vessel, it could close off completely, causing heart attack.
Similarly, even if it does not close completely, a piece of the plaque could
break off from the wall, travel down the blood vessel, and get lodges in a
smaller vessel or in the heart itself, also causing a heart attack.

Beyond the heart, a similar thing can happen to the brain. If a piece of
plaque cuts off a blood vessel in the brain, you suffer from a stroke. While
you can eventually regain heart-health again after a mild heart attack, the
effects of a stroke can be long lasting or permanent, depending on where in
your brain the effected blood vessel is located. Because blood is cut off
from your brain, oxygen cannot travel to this area, and so pieces of the
brain die. Some cannot be rebuilt, and some, if they die, result in death.

If that's not scary enough, high blood pressure can cause or be an indicator
of many other small health problems that can add up to a very sickly body.
For example, high blood pressure is often an indicator of too much glucose
in the blood stream, causing or caused by diabetes. Even if you do not have
diabetes, you are still at risk for chronic renal (kidney) failure if you
have high blood pressure.

It is unfortunate that so many people needlessly suffer from these diseases.
High blood pressure is easy to diagnose at your doctor's office, but even if
you do not wish to make an appointment to have your blood pressure checked,
you can still regulate yourself. Many home testing kits are available on the
market to do just this, and if you follow the directions carefully, they can
be quite accurate. There is really no excuse for going undiagnosed, so take
care of your body by checking your blood pressure today.

About The Author: Paul Johnson has an interest in High Blood Pressure. For
further information on High Blood Pressure please visit
http://www.natural-blood-pressure-reduction.com/bloodpressure.html
or
http://natural-blood-pressure-reduction.com/blog/2006/10/10/do-you-have-high
-blood-pressure/

5 Major Things You Need To Know About Cholesterol

All this time, people or professionals only talk about ways to lower your
cholesterol. But, have they really explained to you the significant details
about cholesterol that you need to know before trying to lower the level?

If they haven't, these 5 basic facts about cholesterol are important for
you:

1. Cholesterol Levels

There are actually five different ways that you can use in order to get a
complete reading on your own cholesterol levels and they are: total
cholesterol levels, HDL, LDL, total/HDL ratio, LDL/HDL ratio.
Measurement units for checking your cholesterol are conducted as milligrams
per deciliter.

Your overall desired level should be below 200 mg/dL, 200 to 240 for a
borderline level and total risk above level 240.

2. HDL Level

HDL stands for High Density Lipoproteins. It is actually just a section of
your overall cholesterol.
The normal range of HDL level for men about 40 to 50 mg/dL, and for women 50
to 60 mg/dL.
The higher it is the better. Their role in our body is to carry cholesterol
away from the body as soon as LDL has brought it.
They're the ones that help you reduce the risk of heart disease and cardiac
problems.

3. LDL Level

LDL stands for Low Density Lipoproteins. When it comes to LDL, you prefer
the level to be low. Why? Because they can clog arteries and kill us. That's
why they are called bad cholesterol.

Yet, the balance between HDL and LDL is what gives us general health.

4. How to Lower Your Cholesterol

The alternatives to using drugs are natural cholesterol reducers which could
also be found in many whole foods.

One of them is garlic. Garlic is considered a natural reducer because it
acts as an inhibitor. The other one is omega 3. Fish oils with their
omega-3-fatty acids are also known to reduce heart disease by at least 40%.

5. Risk Factors for High Cholesterol

There are some risk factors that might cause high cholesterol that you'd
better avoid.

Fast foods, chips, soft drinks, candy bars, refined sugars, butter cream,
fried cheese, fried dough, and cotton candy are foods that we've been
enjoying since we were kids. But, they are the foods that can contribute to
your high cholesterol.

They taste delicious in our mouth but they are harmful for our health. Don't
let a little joy hurt you. Diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease,
hyperthyroidism are just some of the dangers that these foods can cause;
high cholesterol is just another side effect.

However, this above basic knowledge will be easier to apply if you have
decided to lead a healthy lifestyle. Make sure that you won't suffer from
any disease only because of your ignorance of health.

About The Author: Riana Lance has a deep concern on health. Get her
inspirational e-mail guides on How to Make Your Cholesteol Lower at
http://www.healthifica.com/reports/lower-cholesterol.php Also, grasp her
other motivational health tips at http://www.healthifica.com, a
worth-to-visit daily updated blog.