How Low Can You Go?

Though Chubby Checker recorded these lyrics to Limbo Rock in 1962, the popular catchphrase still holds true today--especially when it comes to your blood pressure. Ever since 1967, we've been aiming to go low. That is the year the first Veterans Administration Cooperative Trial was published, which confirmed that treatment of patients with high blood pressure resulted in fewer strokes, deaths and cardiovascular complications. Before this landmark study, high blood pressure was not recognized as a disease requiring treatment. There were even physicians who felt that high blood pressure was a phenomenon of aging and that higher pressures were needed to get blood into the head of elderly individuals with hardening arteries (atherosclerosis). We've grown wiser as we've aimed lower. Today, most physicians work to keep their patients' systolic blood pressure (the top number) at 140 mm Hg or less. Last year, there was a publication suggesting that perhaps, those individuals over the age of 60 should be allowed to have a slightly higher blood pressure (150 mm Hg or higher if it was controlled). However, a new study, just released by the National Institutes of Health, suggests we need to lower the bar once again. So how low should you go? The results of this study were astounding, and build a solid case for managing systolic blood pressure to 120 mm Hg or less. Here are the facts uncovered in the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT): Treatment of blood pressure to ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news