High blood pressure happens when blood cannot flow easily through your blood vessels. This creates pressure in your vessels, which damages the vessels and strains your heart. As a result, blood doesn't flow as well to your brain or kidneys, and you can have a heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. Among Asian American/Pacific Islander women, high blood pressure is more of a problem for Filipino women. And all Asian American/Pacific Islander women have much lower blood pressure screening rates than other minority women. Certain factors increase your chances of having high blood pressure: increasing age (middle aged or older), diabetes, obesity (or being overweight), alcohol use, eating too much salt, a family history of high blood pressure, and not exercising.

Publications

1. For Your Heart - This portion of the NWHIC web site will escort you through a short, confidential survey of questions about your health and lifestyle. Based on your answers, it will provide you with a series of articles detailing the latest information on exercise, nutrition, smoking, diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure and other factors that affect you and your risk for heart disease - all tailored to your needs.

2. Facts About The DASH Eating Plan - This brochure is an easy to read summary of the findings from the "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension" clinical study that showed how elevated blood pressure levels can be reduced with an eating plan low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, and rich in fruits, vegetables, and lowfat dairy products. It also provides a form to track food habits before starting the plan and a chart to help with meal planning and food shopping.

3. Frequently Asked Questions - High Blood Pressure - This publication contains important basic facts about high blood pressure in women. It explains what high blood pressure is and why it is so dangerous, why women should be concerned with high blood pressure, what causes it, what risk factors contribute to high blood pressure, and how a woman can tell if she has high blood pressure. This publication also explains how blood pressure is measured, how high blood pressure can be prevented, the effects of hormones on blood pressure, and what medicines are used to control it.

4. Stay Young at Heart - Cooking the Heart Healthy Way - Carrot-raisin bread? Barbecue chicken? Baked pork chops? Heart-healthy pumpkin pie? Sound too good to be true? The 12 recipes in this packet will convince you that healthy dishes can also be delicious. Each recipe also lists total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and calories per serving.

5. Ten Tips to Help You Control Your High Blood Pressure - High blood pressure increases your chance (or risk) for getting heart disease and/or kidney disease, and for having a stroke. This fact sheet outlines ten tips to help you control your high blood pressure.

6. Use Herbs and Spices Instead of Salt - High blood pressure increases your chance (or risk) for getting heart disease and/or kidney disease, and for having a stroke. This fact sheet provides examples of herbs and spices that can be used instead of salt to help you control your high blood pressure.

7. Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure - This web site, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is an interactive guide providing basic information to answer your questions about high blood pressure; tips and quizzes about high blood pressure and heart health; and information about medications and talking with your doctor.

Organizations

1. CDC's WISEWOMAN™ - Well Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation

2. Heart Truth: A National Awareness Campaign for Women about Heart Disease, The

3. WomenHeart - National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease