(gentle upbeat music) - Hypertension means that your heart is working harder than it needs to or should to circulate your blood.

(gentle upbeat music) Hello, I'm Lisa Bolton.

I'm the Care Management Nurse Practitioner at Nashville General Hospital.

Today, we're going to talk about hypertension blood pressure, which is a huge part of your health.

(gentle upbeat music) High blood pressure refers to your circulation, and your circulation is carrying oxygen to each and every cell in your body.

That means that all of the organs in your body, all of the systems in your body can be badly affected if your blood pressure is too high, so kind of head to toe.

You can have a stroke, which is an interruption of the blood supply to your brain.

You can have retinal problems and impair your vision.

You can have a heart attack.

You can have heart failure.

You can have problems with the circulation to your liver even.

(gentle upbeat music) High blood pressure means that your heart is having to work too hard.

It is asymptomatic, that's why it's called silent killer.

(gentle upbeat music) Step one is prevention.

What is prevention?

Following that heart healthy-lifestyle and keeping the blood pressure well controlled.

Less processed foods, more things that you chop, cook, fix, prepare yourselves.

Exercise is huge.

The recommendations are 150 minutes a week of something kind of brisk and vigorous, where you're walking at a fast pace, or you're doing some weight training, or you're taking yoga class, something that you enjoy that you will do.

(gentle upbeat music) You can buy a blood pressure cuff yourself.

Check it twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon, every day for seven days.

Look at what your numbers say and take that with you to your doctor's office.

Hypertension is beautifully, wonderfully, easily treatable.

So we'll quietly check your blood pressure and these are your numbers.

And then we'll go ahead and take this off.

I'm Lisa Bolton.

Thanks so much for joining us for your good health.