Your heart pumps blood through your arteries, and the force this creates on your arteries is called your blood pressure. Blood pressure is measured by counting your pulse when a cuff is tightened around your arm, and again when it is loosened. This gives you two blood pressure numbers: systolic, that measures blood pressure when your heart contracts, and the much lower diastolic, when your heart relaxes.

When your heart contracts, it pushes a huge amount of blood forward to your arteries. Your arteries are supposed to act like balloons and expand to accept the blood and prevent your blood pressure from rising too high. Having plaques in your arteries stiffens them and prevents them from expanding when your heart contracts, causing your blood pressure to rise higher than normal. The stiffer your arteries become, the higher your blood pressure rises. The intense pressure on artery walls from high blood pressure can cause damage that provides ideal places for even more plaque to accumulate. It's a vicious circle -- high blood pressure continues to cause plaque build-up, which narrows the arteries and increases the blood pressure even more.

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is one of the primary risk factors for heart disease, yet it can go completely unnoticed for years because you usually don't feel anything when your pressure is up. The systolic (contraction) blood pressure is more of a concern than the diastolic (relaxation) blood pressure as an indicator of your risk of a heart attack or stroke. Your risk is increased further if you also have high blood cholesterol, sugar or insulin, an enlarged heart, or if you are overweight. Over time, high blood pressure can cause serious damage to your cardiovascular system, your kidneys and other organs.

Check your blood pressure yourself at your local pharmacy, or buy your own blood pressure cuff (they're not expensive.) If your blood pressure is frequently over 120/80, check with your doctor. Read my reports about the DASH diet, which can control blood pressure in 80 percent of people with hypertension. It's explained in The Good Food Book and in the Heart Health section of my web site (see the links below.)