Minority Women's Health

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High Blood Pressure

Minority Women's Health > African Americans > Health Topics > High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure happens when blood can't flow easily through your blood vessels. This puts pressure on your vessels, which damages the vessels and strains your heart. As a result, blood doesn't flow as well to your organs, and you can have a heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure.

High blood pressure has no symptoms. See your doctor once a year to have your blood pressure checked.

One out of three Americans has high blood pressure. African American women of all ages develop high blood pressure more often than non-Hispanic white women. Some things increase your chances of having high blood pressure: increasing age (middle aged or older), diabetes, obesity (or being overweight), alcohol use, eating too much salt, a family history of high blood pressure, and not exercising.

Making some lifestyle changes can help prevent or control high blood pressure.

• If you are overweight, lose weight. Losing just 10 pounds can lower your blood pressure.
• Get moving. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise a day, most days of the week. Try taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Or, walk during breaks at work.
• Eat right. Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Choose low-fat dairy products. Eat less salt.
• Don't smoke. If you smoke, try to quit. For help along the way, check out our Quitting Smoking section.
• If you drink alcohol, have no more than one drink per day.

Publications

1.   Heart-Healthy Home Cooking African American Style — Prepare your favorite African American dishes in ways that protect you and your family from heart disease and stroke. These 20 tested recipes will show you how to cut back on saturated fat, cholesterol, and salt and still have great-tasting food. Delicious foods from spicy southern barbecued chicken to sweet potato pie are included.

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/chdblack/cooking.htm

2.     Prevent and Control High Blood Pressure: Mission Possible. What Every African American Should Know — This fact sheet targets African American adults with messages about their special risks associated with high blood pressure and tips for preventing and controlling it.

   http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/mission/partner/african_americans.pdf

3.     The Heart Truth for African American Women: An Action Plan — This fact sheet provides heart disease facts and figures specific to African American women. Statistics are provided on heart related issues, as well as a checklist of questions to ask your doctor to begin your action plan for a healthy heart.

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/material/factsheet_aa.pdf

4.     Your Guide to Lowering Blood Pressure with DASH — Get with the plan that is clinically proven to significantly reduce blood pressure! This updated booklet contains a week's worth of sample menus and recipes recalculated using the most recent nutritional guidelines. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan features plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other foods that are heart healthy and lower in salt/sodium. It also contains additional information on weight loss and physical activity.

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf

5.   Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure — This web site, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is an interactive guide that answers common questions about high blood pressure and offers tips and quizzes. It also provides information on medications and suggestions on how to talk to your doctor.

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/index.html

6.   Heart Disease, Stroke and African Americans (Copyright © AHA) — This resource provides information about heart-related conditions. It discusses risk factors that increase your chances of heart disease and stroke and gives you tips on what you can do decrease them.

   http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/1157061665970SYH_HDStrk_Repros.pdf...

7. High Blood Pressure Increases Your Risk for Stroke (Copyright © AHA) — High blood pressure increases your risk of stroke. Learn more about high blood pressure, their risk factors and how they are connected.

   http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=2153

Organizations

1.   CDC's WISEWOMAN™ - Well Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation
2.   Heart Truth: A National Awareness Campaign for Women About Heart Disease, The
3.   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH, HHS
4. American Heart Association
5. American Stroke Association
6. Sister to Sister: The Women's Heart Health Foundation

= Indicates Federal Resources

Current as of December 2007