Your blood pressure

What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood in your arteries as your heart pumps it around your body.

Your blood pressure reading is measured with two numbers, for example, 120 over 80 (120/80). The first number is called the systolic blood pressure and is the force your blood puts on blood vessel walls as your heart pumps. The second number is known as diastolic blood pressure and represents the force in the blood vessel walls when your heart is at rest.

Blood pressure readings

How can I reduce my blood pressure?

There are a number of steps you can take to lower your blood pressure:

• Reduce the amount of salt in your diet
• Be active every day
• Limit your alcohol intake
• Achieve and maintain a healthy weight
• Quit smoking
• Enjoy healthy eating
• Know your blood pressure and have it checked regularly. If you have high blood pressure your doctor may prescribe medication to reduce your blood pressure.

What happens if I have high blood pressure?

If your blood pressure remains high, it can lead to serious problems such as a heart attack, a stroke, heart failure or kidney disease. There are usually no signs or symptoms when high blood pressure occurs. You can have high blood pressure and feel perfectly well. The following factors increase the risks of serious problems associated with high blood pressure:

• Smoking
• Having high blood cholesterol
• Being overweight
• Having diabetes

Note: the word hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure.

Further information and advice

For further information and advice, you can contact: 

• The Heart Foundation on 1300 36 27 87 or heartfoundation.org.au
• The Stroke Foundation on 1800 787 653 or strokefoundation.com.au

For more information and tips for how to reduce your blood pressure, you can download the Blood Pressure Fact Sheet.