Doctors warn of high blood pressure dangers

BRISTOL, Tenn. -

Every six seconds someone dies of a heart attack or stroke and we learned some of them could be prevented, according to doctors. One in 3 people have high blood pressure and do not even know it.

"I went to crossroads medical, I'd been having a lot of dizzy spells," said Lisa Bowers. She discovered her dizzy spells were being caused by high blood pressure. "I was scared, real scared, cause they say you can have a stroke or a heart attack if you don't do something about it," said Bowers.

We learned the symptoms are headaches, chest pain and visual change, but found out bowers was lucky to have symptoms at all. "Very often people have no symptoms at all and it's only routine checks that they find out they do have high blood pressure," said Dr. Jonathan Burress.

Burress said numerous diseases can cause high blood pressure, but as you get older, the chances of having the problem increase. "As we grow older our vessels are stiff and when that happens we see our top number start to creep up on us," said Burress. They creep even more as our waist lines do. "Obesity, sleep apnea, are closely linked to high blood pressure. We just happen to be in the part of the United States where obesity is leading in the country," said Burress.

We discovered you want your blood pressure to be 120 over 70 or less. "Most people don't realize their blood pressure is 145 over 80 and nobody said anything so they think it's good and it's not," said Burress.

Dr. Burress says high blood pressure could lead to stroke, heart attack, or even blindness. "If anybody has it, they need to get it checked and checked soon," said Bowers.

Other things that could raise your blood pressure are smoking, drinking too much alcohol, and a high sodium intake.