Citizens Memorial Hospital | Vitality | Summer 2018

citizensmemorial.com 9 Blood pressure: Is yours now too high? If you haven’t done so lately, you may want to ask your doctor to give your blood pressure another look. The reason? The American Heart Association (AHA) recently changed its definition of high blood pressure—a condition that boosts the risks of some serious diseases. Many people who didn’t have high blood pressure under the old definition may have it now. Could you be one of them? Getting your blood pressure checked is the only way to find out. See the chart for the new AHA blood pressure definitions. Remember, a blood pressure reading is given as two numbers: a systolic (upper) number and a diastolic (lower) number. High blood pressure increases your chances of having things like a heart attack or stroke, kidney disease, or vision loss because it damages blood vessels, among other things. So it’s important to keep your blood pressure in a healthy range. How do you do that? By making healthy choices—including eating a nutritious diet and exercising—and taking medications as needed. But first, find out where you stand by having your blood pressure checked. Hands-only CPR: Why you should consider doing it You don’t need to know how to perform mouth-to-mouth cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to save the life of someone in cardiac arrest. You can use hands-only CPR. Hands-only CPR consists of just two steps: Call 911 if you see a teen or an adult collapse and they’re not responsive when you ask them if they’re OK. Push hard and fast in the center of the person’s chest. Use the beat of the disco classic “Stayin’ Alive” to guide your compressions. No mouth-to-mouth breathing is required. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the vast majority of cardiac arrests take place at home or in a nonhospital public place. Most people who haven’t learned CPR feel helpless to act in that situation. Yet when a person has a cardiac arrest, their survival depends on how quickly someone performs CPR. That’s where hands-only CPR comes in. It has been shown to be as effective as full CPR during the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest. To watch a demonstration video of hands-only CPR in action, visit the AHA at heart.org/handsonlycpr . 130 to 139 and 80 to 89 120 to 129 and less than 80 less than 120 and less than 80 HIGH NORMAL ELEVATED Systolic / Diastolic Talk to your medical provider about any concerns you have about your blood pressure. Go to citizensmemorial.com to request an appointment. ➜ 1 2 HEART HEALTH