Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of the arteries, the blood vessels that carry oxygen to different parts of the body.

When the pressure is always too high, this is called hypertension; it causes the heart to work harder to pump blood.

People with high blood pressure are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications, like heart attacks, stroke, and kidney failure.

An individual's blood pressure is defined by two measurements: systolic pressure (the "top" number) is the pressure in the arteries produced when the heart contracts (at the time of a heartbeat), and diastolic pressure (the "bottom" number) refers to the pressure in the arteries during relaxation of the heart between heart beats. Blood pressure is reported as the systolic pressure over diastolic pressure (for example, 120/70 or "120 over 70").

A normal blood pressure is a systolic pressure less than 120 over a diastolic pressure less than 80. Blood pressure is said to be elevated when it is at 120 to 129 over less than 80. It is called hypertension when systolic blood pressure is 130 and above and diastolic pressure is over 80.

Hypertension is a lot more common than you probably realize. In the Philippines, about one of three adults has hypertension, and hypertension accounts for 9.4 million deaths every year worldwide.

It becomes more common as we get older, and your risk is higher if you are overweight or obese, have a family history of hypertension and do not get a lot of physical activity. It is also more common if you smoke, consume a lot of salt in your diet, drink a lot of alcohol, and have high cholesterol levels.

Hypertension has long been called the "silent killer." In most cases, there are no obvious symptoms to indicate that something is wrong. Hypertension rarely causes symptoms in the early stages and so many people go undiagnosed.

This is where routine screening becomes important. It is recommended that people 40 years and older without a history of hypertension have their blood pressure checked once a year, with screening done more frequently in people with risk factors such as obesity or family history, or who have had elevated blood pressure in the past.

For younger individuals without risk factors, a reasonable approach is to undergo screening every few years. Regardless of your current health status, you should take the threat of hypertension seriously and get screened regularly.

It is important to remember that hypertension can be controlled and even prevented. The best ways to protect yourself from hypertension are being aware of one's risk factors and making lifestyle changes. Engaging in healthy behaviors at any age, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, can help keep one's risk of hypertension in check.

Maintaining a healthy weight, a good diet, avoiding too much salt, increasing physical activity, reducing alcohol consumption and not smoking are all things that you can do to reduce your risk of developing hypertension.

For those of already diagnosed with hypertension, make sure you are monitored frequently. If you are unable to achieve goal blood pressure readings, talk to your doctor about other changes you can make, with both medication and lifestyle, to avoid the serious complications that can follow.