Major Risks Linked to High Systolic Pressure

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Why High Systolic Pressure is Deadly

As we age, there is an increased stiffness or inelasticity of the major arteries, including the aorta, which no longer absorbs the force of the blood as it’s pumped from the heart. “If the arteries don’t stretch, pressure increases and drives up the systolic pressure,” Corso says.
           
How to Lower Systolic Pressure
The best way to fight high systolic blood pressure is to control your blood pressure when you are younger, says Jose Escalante, M.D., associate director of interventional cardiology and the catheterization lab at the Heart Institute at Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, Florida.
           
“If you control your blood pressure at an early age with diet, proper exercise, and medication, you reduce your chances of developing systolic hypertension along with your risk of suffering a cardiovascular event,” Escalante says.