- Hello, and welcome to Living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

When it comes to our health, sometimes it's important to focus on basics, like blood pressure.

For a look at blood pressure and why it's so important to monitor and manage, our own Grover Silcox joins me.

Grover, always great to see you.

- Good to be here, Britt.

- Such a simple topic, but we need to stay on top of it.

- It is, and I think many of us take it for granted, you know, especially if you're in the under-50 crowd, but over 50, the older you get, the more important it is to monitor and manage your blood pressure.

- Sure, and if left untreated, it could lead to bigger problems?

- Can lead to all kinds of problems.

It can damage the cardiovascular system, the heart, the brain, the kidneys, all kinds of problems.

And frequently, there are no signs or symptoms.

So, you need to get it checked by your doctor, or if you have a monitor at home, you know, take a look at it, be aware of it.

- Sure, and I guess that's why doctors are always checking our blood pressure, even if it's a routine appointment.

- Exactly.

And according to the Harvard Health Publishing, one in three Americans suffers from high blood pressure, or hypertension.

Checking blood pressure and managing high blood pressure, sometimes even low pressure is a first line of defense against medical emergencies such as stroke and heart attack.

This is why your physician regularly checks your blood pressure when you visit, and then treat your pressure if it rises above a certain range.

Most physicians and medical professionals also recommend self-monitoring at home, as well.

The good news, as I learned from a Lehigh Valley cardiologist, is that modern medicine offers a wide array of medications and techniques to treat high blood pressure very effectively.

- Everything might seem fine on the surface, but there's a silent killer among us.

It plagues nearly half of all American adults, and can lead to serious illness and death.

It's called high blood pressure, or hypertension.

- Being aware that that silent killer is there and can start causing organ problems is sort of the first thing.

Because if you don't know about it, you can't treat it.

- Dr. Eric Elgin, network chief of cardiology at Lehigh Valley Health Network, emphasizes the long-term threat of untreated high blood pressure.

- So people who have high blood pressure are at higher risk for developing atherosclerosis, and then, you start developing what we call "end organ problems," which is a fancy way of saying you have problems with your brain, problems with your heart, problems with your kidneys.

Those are probably the big three that we tend to see.

- So, what's a normal blood pressure, and what's considered elevated and potentially needing treatment?

- The normal is less than 120/80.

Elevated is 130/80.

- High, or elevated blood pressure is designated in two stages.

- Stage one high blood pressure is 130-139/80-90.

And stage two blood pressure is greater than 140/90.

- Physicians routinely check a patient's blood pressure during visits.

- And this is the power of a regular checkup with your internist or a family practice doctor, whoever it is, to check that blood pressure.

- For demonstration purposes, I asked Dr. Elgin to take my pressure.

- Is there a preferred arm?

- Usually we use the right one.

And we generally want that arm right about heart-level.

So, what we want is the patient to have sat for a few minutes after they arrived, trying to have them relax so that we're measuring that real blood pressure, sometimes driving to the doctor's visit, or even just visiting the doctor can raise your blood pressure.

So, we want to make sure that they are as relaxed as possible when we make that measurement.

We put the cuff around, and then, we inflate the cuff, so it includes the artery, and we know that's your pressure.

And then, we slowly let the air out of it.

And while the air is coming out of it, I'm listening.

138/76.

And that's it!

- Dr. Elgin recommends home monitoring.

There are lots of electronic devices today that even the non-medical person can use.

- And certainly for someone who's under treatment for high blood pressure, we recommend having a machine at home.

We recommend actually bringing that machine in to one of your doctor's visits so that we can correlate it with our machines in the office.

And so, we pretty much always recommend that you get one that has a cuff that works on your upper arm.

That's the most reliable place to measure your blood pressure.

- It's high.

- What are the treatment options for patients with high blood pressure?

- It's very fixable.

And it's very fixable in today's world.

Even if we have to use medications, we can find a combination of medications that does not require you to endure side effects.

- In many cases, lifestyle changes can make a big difference.

- It is lots of things.

Stopping smoking, watching how much alcohol you drink, exercising daily, having a low-salt diet, eating a heart-healthy diet.

So, avoiding saturated fats, excess sugar, those things we know help control your blood pressure.

And if you do all those, a lot of times you may not need medications after that initial identification.

- Some groups are more prone to high blood pressure than others.

- High blood pressure does have some differences across age, gender, and even race.

And we know that in African Americans, there's a higher prevalence of hypertension.

The biggest predictor is age.

So, for all of us, as we get older, we know that our blood pressure tends to go up.

- This is why Dr. Elgin and his fellow physicians encourage folks, especially as they age, to become more aware of their blood pressure and get control of it, if it's high.

- And we know, if we manage that, we significantly decrease your risk of having strokes, heart attacks, congestive heart failure, or kidney problems.

Living longer and living better.

That's really what we're after.

in the Journal of the American Medical Association, treating high blood pressure with medications, diet and/or exercise can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia.

- So, Grover, word to the wise, stay on top of your blood pressure.

- Absolutely.

Almost every physician will tell you, make sure you get it checked, and then, treat it.

You know, as Dr. Elgin said in my story, there's so many ways to treat high blood pressure today, so there's no reason to avoid it.

- Sure, really good advice, and really good to know for the people out there.

All right, Grover, thank you so much.

- You're welcome.

- All right.

That'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.