Make Ailing Kids Happy

Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. Narrowed or hardened arteries limit the flow and can cause high blood pressure. The longer hypertension goes undetected and untreated, the higher your risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and kidney damage. A 2007 national survey of the Philippine Heart Association found that there are 10.5 million Filipinos with hypertension and that 16 percent of them are not even aware that they have the condition.

Recommended exams: A blood pressure measurement often is done when you see a doctor for any reason. However, recommendations call for an initial blood pressure measurements to be taken at age 21 and then at least every two years thereafter.

What’s involved: An inflatable cuff is wrapped around your upper arm to measure your systolic pressure (the amount of pressure your heart generates when pumping blood through the arteries) and your diastolic pressure (the amount of pressure in the arteries when your heart is at rest between beats). A blood pressure reading below 120/80 mmHg is considered normal. A reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher is considered high blood pressure. Readings in between these two ranges are classified as prehypertension, meaning you’re at risk at developing hypertension (see table).