Hypertension or High Blood Pressure
What you need to know...
According to a leading medical institution "High blood pressure is a common condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems..."
It is a long term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. Blood pressure is expressed by two measurements, the systolic and diastolic pressures, which are the maximum and minimum pressures, respectively, in the arterial system. The systolic pressure occurs when the left ventricle is most contracted; the diastolic pressure occurs when the left ventricle is most relaxed prior to the next contraction. Normal blood pressure at rest is within the range of 100–140 millimeters mercury systolic and 60–90 mmHg diastolic. Hypertension is present if the resting blood pressure is persistently at or above 140/90 mmHg for most adults; different numbers apply to children. Hypertension can be caused by emotional factors, constitutional deficiencies, diet and stress that lead to an imbalance of yin and yang in the liver, spleen and kidney. Eventually this can result in hyperactivity of liver fire, or phlegm disturbing the upper, or frequent weakness of kidney yin and the failure of yin to control yang. Elevated blood pressure, therefore, is a sign and a symptom of other things happening within the body. It is a serious indicator and according to TCM it is not the cause of disease but the indication that the body is out of balance and needs to be brought into balance. TCM offers solutions that work on curing the underlying causes of hypertension. |