Type 2 Diabetes - Managing Diabetes and High Blood Pressure

High or raised blood pressure is very common in people who have Type 2 diabetes. You have twice the risk of hypertension if you have Type 2 diabetes compared with a person of similar age without diabetes. The combination of hypertension and diabetes doubles the risk of macrovascular complications.

When the heart beats, blood is pumped into the arteries. When the blood is forced into these arteries, the walls will resist and it creates pressure within the arteries. That pressure is what allows blood to flow throughout your entire body. Your pressure is the highest when the heart is contracting and falls when it relaxes between beats. This is what that the blood pressure cuff at your doctor's office is monitoring when you have your blood pressure level checked.

The systolic number is the one on the top while the diastolic is the one on the bottom. The systolic number shows the peak pressure when your heart is contracting while diastolic looks at the pressure when your heart is resting between contractions. It can change throughout the day depending upon what you're doing, what you've eaten and other factors. Your pressure will likely be different if you're lying down than when you're standing up. Anxiety and stress can also make changes to your blood pressure.

Doctors used to think a measurement of 120/80 was a normal reading, although they have since changed that. Most doctors want you to stay under 120/80. As your reading inches upward, you could see a greater risk for major health issues such as heart attack and stroke. The first stirrings of hypertension are systolic readings that are higher than 140 or diastolic readings that are higher than 80.

one out of every four American adults actually has hypertension already.African-American people have a higher incidence of the condition than Caucasians.high blood pressure also tends to run in families.

Hypertension typically hits people when they are over 35 years old. In fact, by age 65 more than half of all people in the United States have high blood pressure. Women after menopause are very susceptible to the condition as are women who take birth control pills.

Being overweight and not exercising enough are two of the major risk factors for high blood pressure. In addition to that, people who eat too much salt or drink too much alcohol, may also run the risk of increasing their reading.

Thankfully, stress is not something that will cause hypertension long-term although it can temporarily spike the blood pressure level. Smoking increases blood pressure each and every time a person is smoking a cigarette. The same can be said for caffeine which causes a temporary spike in blood pressure as well.

Thankfully, hypertension can be treated by making lifestyle modifications to your diet such as:

lowering your salt intake, andincreasing your intake of foods containing potassium,

and adding more exercise to your regimen.

Very high blood pressure is dangerous for people with Type 2 diabetes, and should be treated.

To discover answers to questions you may be asking yourself about Type 2 Diabetes, click on this link... Natural Diabetes Treatments