Special Issue:
High Blood Pressure

Illustration by Meech Boakye

Editor’s Letter
Masthead
Resources

High How to Lower High Blood Pressure: Prevention, Treatment, and Real Stories of Living with Hypertension

High blood pressure affects millions of people, leaving many searching for answers to questions like how to lower high blood pressure, high blood pressure how to lower it safely, and how to lower high blood pressure fast. This first-ever special issue of Womanly is designed to address that need with clear, accessible information on the causes of hypertension and practical ways to prevent, manage, and treat it. Whether you’re exploring how to lower high blood pressure naturally or looking for guidance after a diagnosis, this issue equips you with tools to make informed decisions, advocate for yourself, and take control of your heart health.

Alongside expert-backed guidance, this issue highlights how people navigate a high blood pressure diagnosis in real life—through both storytelling and visual art. Featuring work from artists and writers in Baltimore and other communities impacted by hypertension, and in collaboration with the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) MFA in Illustration Practice, these pieces bring depth to the question of blood pressure high how to lower it by reflecting the emotional and cultural realities behind the condition. Share this resource with someone who may need it, and explore past issues for more accessible information on nutrition, stress, heart health, sex education, and Black maternal health.

Health Guides- Managing and Understanding High Blood Pressure

Special Issue: Blood Pressure [MASTER]

What is Hypertension?

Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, occurs when pressure in the arteries (blood vessels) is too high.

Advocating for Yourself and Understanding Self Advocacy in Health Care

Learn why self advocacy is essential after a high blood pressure diagnosis, including how to ask the right questions, understand your treatment options, and navigate healthcare with confidence and patient rights.

Understanding Your Blood Pressure Numbers

Knowing your blood pressure numbers and what they mean is key to preventing and managing high blood pressure, especially since hypertension often has no symptoms.

Womanly Chats with Sherita Hill Golden, M.D., M.H.S

Sherita Hill Golden, M.D., M.H.S is an esteemed doctor, scientist, and administrator at Johns Hopkins Medicine, dedicated to serving her community and addressing systemic racism in health care. Her contributions to the field of diabetes research and to inclusive hiring practices have made a lasting impact on her community.

Womanly Magazine is a health and arts publication providing accessible health information to women and non-binary people.

About Womanly

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Special Issue: Blood Pressure [MASTER]

A Conversation with M’Balu Bangura: Baltimore City’s Equity Specialist

Womanly chats with M’Balu Bangura - Baltimore City’s Equity Specialist. Her work ensures that the city develops equitable policies and programs that affect Baltimore City residents.

Hypertension and Pregnancy

High blood pressure can often be brought upon by pregnancy, resulting in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy that include gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.

Hypertension, Medication, and Polypharmacy

Managing hypertension looks different for everyone. While some are able to manage high blood pressure with lifestyle changes, many people require medication.

Modifiable Risk Factors

High blood pressure is something that you can have a certain amount of control over. Whether you have already been diagnosed with high blood pressure, or if you’re trying to lower your risk level, we’re here to share a variety of steps you can take towards finding a strategy that works best for you!

Print This! Blood Pressure Diary

Print this! medication log

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Art and Essays on High Blood Pressure

Special Issue: Blood Pressure [MASTER]

Crunching the Numbers: High Blood Pressure, Locally and Nationally

46% of U.S. adults have high blood pressure. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults with high blood pressure aren’t aware they have it and are not being treated.

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Grandma Marion's Arms

From the shape and aesthetic of our features and body parts to our eating habits, things run in the family and transfer from generation to generation.

Some nights she can’t sleep. Some days, she can’t dream. Why does she always have to be so strong? Why can’t she practice being… soft?

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Black Girls and Their Hearts Soldier On

Protecting my heart—both the organ and the symbol of my emotional and spiritual life—is difficult.

Questions to consider asking your health care provider.

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Featured

Blood Flower

Illustration by Karolin Schnoor

A complicated procedure; A simple decision

Poetry by Maya Lewis

Matters I Take to Heart

Mixed media by Flavia Zuñiga-West

We Haven’t Failed Because We Have High Blood Pressure

Oftentimes when I talk to my patients about their hypertension, I get the sense that they feel they’ve failed. They blame themselves by saying things like, “I should’ve eaten less salt,” or “I need to exercise more.” But hypertension isn’t a personal failure.

Portrait of Devan Southerland

Photography by Sydney Allen

Featured

Medical Mystery

Poetry by Maya Lewis

Noncompliance

Illustration by Katy Doughty

That Which Bursts Out

To be human is to experience this. To leave this skin soft as there is an overstay of a sharp beating. I have now been dealing with palpitations and an overwhelming feeling in Body for three months. Fluid circulating arteries. Swell. Gush. Spurt. Sometimes Body’s pressure reaches 150/105.