St Johns Ambulance

What is Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of your blood on the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps it around your body. Your BP will go up and down naturally throughout the day depending on what you are doing, especially if you are doing exercise.

What does it mean to have high BP?

High BP is when your blood pressure is permanently higher than normal. High BP is one of the main risk factors for heart disease, especially heart attacks and strokes.

It’s possible to have high BP without knowing, so it’s important to keep an eye on it by getting your heart health checked regularly by a health professional.

Knowing your blood pressure, especially as we age, is an important way of keeping track of our general health. Next time you are at the ask what your BP is, we all know how much air should be in our tyres, knowing your BP should be just as important.

Take ownership of your health, know your BP.

What causes high BP?

There is no one specific cause of high BP, but there are a few things that can increase your chances of developing it, such as:

Eating fatty, salty, processed foods; excess alcohol intake and smoking,

Be aware of your weight, try and get 30 (even 15) minutes of physical activity a day.

Your BP can also go up temporarily due to stress, your emotional state, recent physical activity, caffeine consumption or even talking.

Why is it important to St John?

We are all different, as First Responders your BP is one of the primary indicators of your immediate wellbeing. Knowing what ‘your’ normal is, helps us, and everyone else, know how to best treat you in a pre-hospital environment. If you normally have high (or low) BP, and can relay this to First Responders, a high BP reading may be one less issue to worry about.

For the full copy of the fact sheet,

https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-health-education/blood-pressure-and-your-heart

A reminder that the next skill drill will be held on Tuesday, 30^th November. We will be meeting at the shed on Grassy Road at 6:30 pm.

If you are interested in becoming a St John volunteer or, for more information, please email norfolk.island@stjohnnsw.com.au or james.garden@stjohnnsw.com.au