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Hypertension or high blood pressure is a condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is higher than the normal. This may eventually cause various health problems like a heart disease.
The World Health Organization describes hypertension as a disease when the blood pressure is too high. The blood pressure is written as two numbers, namely systolic and diastolic. The systolic number is the pressure in blood vessels when the heart contracts or beats. The diastolic number tells the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart rests between beats.
A person is diagnosed with hypertension when:
- The blood pressure is measured on two different days and the reading of the systolic blood pressure on both days are ≥ 140 mmHg; and/or
- The readings of the diastolic blood pressure on both days are ≥90 mmHg.
Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The higher the blood pressure, the more blood your heart pumps and the narrower are the arteries.
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