Keeping you safe
Check your pressure?
As many as 5 million people in the UK are living with undiagnosed high blood pressure, without knowing they are at risk. The only way to know whether you have high blood pressure is to have it measured.
Having high blood pressure increases your risk of heart attack and stroke, so knowing your blood pressure could save your life.
High blood pressure isn’t a condition that just affects older people so tell your friends to get checked too, you could be saving a life!
What is high blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the pressure of your blood inside your arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body and brain. Your blood pressure changes naturally throughout the day, and is at its lowest when you are asleep and can be raised by events such as emotional stress and physical activity.
More than 1 in 4 adults in the UK have high blood pressure but millions may not be aware of it. High blood pressure isn’t usually something that you can feel or notice so the only way to know you have it is to have your blood pressure measured. Over time if high blood pressure is not treated, your heart may become enlarged making your heart pump less effectively, this can then lead to heart failure. Having high blood pressure also increases your chance of having a heart attack or stroke.
Who is at risk?
In many cases there is no definite cause of high blood pressure, however, there are a number of factors that can increase your risk. Some of these you cannot change or control such as: getting older, being of African Caribbean descent or having a family history of high blood pressure increases your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
There are lifestyle risk factors that you can change to reduce your risk.
These include:
- a high amount of salt in your food
- a lack of exercise
- being overweight or obese
- regularly drinking large amounts of alcohol
- smoking of opioid overdose)
- long-term sleep deprivation
Our blood pressure measuring service
Once you have been given your allocated time slot, you will be asked to sit comfortably in the private consultation room within the pharmacy where you will be required to sign a written consent form to take part in the service.
A blood pressure cuff will be placed on your upper arm, the cuff will inflate and squeeze your arm for approximately 30 seconds then your blood pressure reading will show on the blood pressure monitor.
Our trained pharmacy staff member will discuss your reading with you and explain what the numbers mean. If your reading is high a re-test may be conducted and a GP referral made if applicable.
Our pharmacist will be available should you have any questions about your reading.