Blood pressure drops when overweight children lose small amounts of weight.

The strains of being overweight on the body mentally and physically are numerous.  Blood pressure is but one of the factors that can change with an increasing waistline and in children it sets them on a rollercoaster of long term health issues.

Our blood pressure is a measure of the force at which blood courses through our system. 120/80 has been set as the normal reading for blood pressure and is taken in measurements of millimetres of Mercury. The reading 120/80 is in fact two measurements. You would read this as 120 over 80 mm of Hg(Mercury). This is a measure of amount of force pushing against your artery walls when the heart is contracting and when the heart is at rest. The first figure corresponds to when your heart is contracted – the Systolic pressure. The second figure is the Diastolic pressure- when the heart is at rest.

Reading taken above the norm are given the term Hypertension – hyper meaning raised, therefore high blood pressure and readings lower than the norm are classified as Hypo-tension – hypo meaning low or decreased.

For anyone either of the two extremes have serious health outcomes. But for a child to experience hypertension – High blood pressure describes a condition that places their heart at risk, in fact their whole cardiovascular system. Literally their whole system is always operating under stress, being forced to work above the level that it can tolerate.

A Canadian study has also shown that obese children have the arteries of an elderly person.The aorta in particular is seen to be severely under stress in these children.When the aorta is placed under constant pressure it loses its elasticity and stiffness occurs, this then is associated with complications of the cardiovascular system and even early death

Reducing the Childs weight through effective healthy lifestyle changes promotes a responsible long term solution for that child. Small weight changes have been shown to decrease blood pressure in the severely overweight child. Education is the key here, BEFORE the use of medication. 

Prevention, being proactive and setting long term goals is vital in this situation.