Hypertension increases the risk of various other conditions and this risk can be reduced by getting blood pressure levels down.

Hypertension increases the risk of:

• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Kidney damage
• Vision loss
• Memory problems (dementia)

You can prevent Hypertension and help potentially treat without medication by doing various things:

• Not having too much salt in your diet is important and there is growing evidence that reducing carbohydrates can help too.
• Not smoking - nicotine increases blood pressure - for support click here.
• Reducing caffeine - caffeine increases blood pressure.
• Increasing Exercise - this reduces blood pressure, check out our pages on this.
• Limiting alcohol intake.
• Being a healthy weight - for help with weight loss check out this page.
• Reducing stress - check out our mental health pages.

We do not make a diagnosis of Hypertension based on just one reading. Your average blood pressure is the best way to make a diagnosis and this means doing some readings at home.

If you have a reading at any time over 140/90 then further investigations should be done. There are lots of people locally who have had a raised reading but need further investigation. A one-off normal reading after a raised reading is not enough to reassure. An average of 5 days of home readings is needed to make a diagnosis or to reassure that your blood pressure is normal. Depending on your home readings further tests may be needed to decide if medication is indicated.

Undertaking Home Readings

For anyone with a one off reading of over 140/90 then 5 days of home readings should be undertaken. You can use a blood pressure machine which you have at home but we would only recommend using machines which wrap around the upper arm, not the wrist. If you do not have a machine then you can collect one from your GP surgery reception.

There is a specific way of doing these readings and you can find instructions and a place to record them on this form. You can also see on this page a video and a picture detailing how to undertake your readings.

Once you have completed your readings you can submit them online via the form linked below. This is the preferred method as that system works out the average for us. Alternatively you can drop the completed form into your surgery.