Getting to the heart of blood pressure

Healthy Aging

Healthy blood pressure

The American Heart Association recently published eight updated and enhanced health tips, called Life’s Essential 8, in the journal, Circulation. This is our eighth and final newsletter dedicated to Life’s Essential 8. We did it!

Easing life’s pressure

Instead of defining whether or not you have heart disease, Life’s Essential 8 is used to define whether or not you have heart health. Meeting all of these essential 8 goals is expected to help us not only have healthier hearts, they can enable us to live longer, healthier lives.

This week, let’s talk about:

What is healthy blood pressure?

The American Heart Association categorizes systolic and diastolic blood pressures (mm Hg) as follows:

• Optimal: < 120 / < 80
• Elevated: 120-129 / < 80
• Stage 1 Hypertension: 130-139 or 80-89
• Hypertension: ≥ 140 or ≥ 90

In Nature Reviews Cardiology, Zhou et al. reminded us that, by keeping our blood pressure healthy, we can go a long way in keeping our heart, kidney, and brain healthy, too. In fact, high blood pressure is considered the tip-top preventable cause of heart disease.

So, how do I prevent heart disease by managing my blood pressure?

First and foremost, work with your doctor to develop a plan that best fits you, which may include both lifestyle and pharmacological treatment. Second, ensure you have a way to routinely monitor your blood pressure. While there are more and more non-cuff blood pressure measuring devices out there, the top docs recommend cuff-based devices, as they are still considered the most reliable. Third, you can reduce your salt intake and increase those fruits and veggies.

Speaking of veggies, here’s an encouraging carrot: A study in the Journal of Hypertension showed that reducing your systolic blood pressure by 10 mm Hg or your diastolic blood pressure by 5 mm Hg can reduce your risk of heart failure by 40%, stroke by 35%, and even all-cause mortality by 10%.

A critical link between aging and hypertension

Just last month, a study published in Aging Cell showed that expression of the NPRA gene in our vessels decreases as we get older. In turn, suppression of this gene lowers the activation of AMPK and increases reactive oxygen species in our vessels, both of which contribute to elevated systolic pressure. In their paper, Long et al. revealed how reversing this axis, composed of aging, lower AMPK, and higher reactive species, can support healthy blood pressure – especially as we age.