Significance of High Blood Pressure Written by Dr Harold Gunatillake- Health writer Most Lankans in Sri Lanka don’t seem to understand the gravity of not checking their blood pressure on a regular basis, when you grow older. Most people visit aurvedic physicians and herbalists for their minor ailments and do not get the opportunity to check their BP, more in rural areas What is blood pressure? From the time the heart develops and starts pumping in the fetal stage within the mother’s womb, a pressure is created in the tiny blood vessels when blood is squeezed or pumped out of the left lower chamber (left ventricle) of the heart. Oxygenated purified blood reaches the left side of the heart from the lungs. This purified blood is distributed to every cell in the body through minute capillaries- branches of the peripheral arteries. The pumping pressure created by the left lower chamber ...