25 May Did you know? It’s time to bust a few blood pressure myths

There’s plenty of myths around blood pressure (BP), and with it being May Measurement Month it only seems right to use this as an opportunity to bust BP myths once and for all and replace them with some helpful facts…

Myth busters

Myth 1: If you’re young, you don’t need to worry about blood pressure

Hypertension typically affects older individuals; however young people can also have hypertension.

Myth 2: You’ll know if you have high BP

It’s possible to have high blood pressure without knowing.

Myth 3: You can’t reduce your chances of high BP.

You can keep your blood pressure under control, and therefore reduce your risk, by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising.

Useful facts

Fact 1: BP naturally rises and decreases throughout the day in occurrence to the activities you’re doing.

Fact 2: You can measure your BP for free, and as many times as you wish, on a SiSU Health Station.

Fact 3: When measuring your BP, it’s best to be undistracted – which means no talking – as this can impact your reading.

You may have noticed that this is SiSU’s very first ‘Did you know’ series. If you have anything you’d like to know; simply send us an email with your thoughts and we’ll do our best to feature the answers in another newsletter!

Reference:
Heart Foundation – www.heartfoundation.org.au

Keck Medicine of USC – www.keckmedicine.org