
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a serious concern in women's health. The American Heart Association states that of the 73 million people in the United States with hypertension, nearly half are women. According to the National Institutes of Health, high blood pressure is determined by how high the systolic (top number) or diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure is. The systolic blood pressure is the pressure from when the heart beats; it is considered high if the systolic is over 140. The diastolic blood pressure is the pressure from when the heart is at rest; it is considered high if the diastolic is over 90. In addition, women can have prehypertension, where the systolic is between 120 and 139, and the diastolic is between 80 and 89. Women with prehypertension are at high risk of developing hypertension.
The Nurses' Health Study, conducted by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, investigated certain lifestyle changes. Over 14 years, the Nurses' Health Study looked at 83,882 women between the ages 27 and 44; during those years of observation, 14 percent of those women developed hypertension. However, researchers noticed that certain lifestyles prevented and reduced hypertension; 78 percent of women in the study were less likely to develop hypertension when they: had a body mass index (BMI) within the normal range of 18 and 24, exercised 30 minutes a day; ingested a low-salt diet; consume one alcoholic drink or less a day; used nonnarcotic analgesics less than once per week, and took at least 400 micrograms of folic acid every day.
Ref: examiner.com