13/01/2026
Why you should be arsed about high blood pressure even when you feel fine.
1 in 3 UK adults have high blood pressure. 4.2 million in England don’t know they have it. Half aren’t diagnosed or receiving treatment. And here’s the uncomfortable bit—no symptoms doesn’t mean no damage.
While you’re feeling perfectly well, elevated pressure is silently damaging your heart, kidneys, brain, and blood vessels. This is hypertension-mediated organ damage. It’s happening right now, years before you feel anything.
By the time symptoms appear—shortness of breath, chest pain, vision changes—significant irreversible damage has already occurred. That’s why it’s called the silent killer.
UK burden:
∙ £2.1 billion annual NHS cost
∙ 12% of all GP appointments
∙ 66% of males aged 16-24 with hypertension are undiagnosed
∙ Responsible for ~50% of heart attacks and strokes
∙ Early onset (before 45): double the CVD risk and mortality
The damage is preventable. Get checked. Know your numbers. Act before symptoms appear.
Free BP checks available at pharmacies (if 40+), GP practices, or NHS Health Check (ages 40-74).
If you want a comprehensive baseline assessment beyond just BP—including resting HR, lifestyle screening, and guidance on your next steps—we offer Health MOTs at RAD Exercise Physiology. Snapshot starts at £25 for a 20-30 min assessment. Know your numbers, understand your risk, get a plan.
Key references:
∙ NHS Digital Health Survey England (2022): 30% prevalence, 34% men, 27% women
∙ ONS (2023): 4.2 million undiagnosed in England, 66% of young males undiagnosed
∙ Blood Pressure UK: £2.1bn annual NHS cost
∙ Wang et al. (2020) JACC: Early onset HTN = 2x CVD risk
∙ Vasan et al. (2022) Hypertension: Framingham Study - organ damage increases CVD risk at every BPm
