Blood pressure measures the pressure exerted by the circulating blood on the walls of the arteries, veins, and heart chambers. It is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of the blood vessels. Maintaining healthy blood pressure is crucial to maintaining a healthy and enhanced overall well-being.
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Blood pressure is measured in the context of systolic and diastolic activities. When the ventricles in the heart contract, it is termed a systolic activity, while the relaxing ventricles mark a diastolic activity.
It is highest during the systole activity and lowest during the diastole activity. The unit of measuring blood pressure is millimeters. A regular blood pressure reading is 120/80 mmHg. When blood pressure is high, it may damage the blood vessels, heart, and kidneys. These conditions may lead to heart attack, stroke, and other serious problems.
A healthy person maintains a blood pressure reading of 120/80 mmHg. A deviation from this regular reading can result in a blood pressure disorder. There are two abnormal conditions of blood pressure: high blood pressure or hypertension and low blood pressure or hypotension.
High Blood Pressure/ Hypertension
A person is known to suffer from high blood pressure when their blood pressure measurement increases over that of an average reading. Normal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg. When it rises to 140/ 90 mmHg, the person is known to have high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is often termed a silent killer.’ You might have been suffering from it for a long time and not know it. However, when a person develops high blood pressure, it usually lasts a lifetime.
About 90-95 percent of the causes of hypertension are unknown. However, several factors may lead to high blood pressure, like obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, family background of high blood pressure, consuming excess salt, and getting older.
Blood pressure may also rise if one lives a sedentary lifestyle and eats insufficient potassium and calcium. Hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis), thickening of the artery wall, and too much contraction of the small arteries may also cause hypertension.
Why High Blood Pressure?
Your heart pumps blood and supplies it to the various organs of your body via arteries. When leaving your heart, the arteries narrow into arterioles, further narrowing into capillaries. These capillaries supply oxygen and nutrients to the various organs.
Due to certain nerve impulses, the arteries become dilated or contracted. If the arteries become contracted, the passage of blood is hampered, and the blood pressure increases. This condition causes high blood pressure or hypertension.
This condition strains the heart and can even damage the blood vessels. If the vessels are damaged, the blood supply can further affect various body organs connected to them.
The human body generally bears and handles this sudden increase in pressure for a while. This is one of the sole reasons people can live their whole lives without any ill effects or symptoms from high blood pressure.
High blood pressure does not usually cause symptoms, which explains why this ailment can go undetected for many years. This may result in progressive damage to major organs like the heart, kidneys, liver, and blood vessels.
In addition to these conditions, high blood pressure can cause the tiny capillaries in the eye to bleed. However, symptoms of high blood pressure are noticeable in some people. These symptoms may include headache, blurred vision, nausea, and chronic fatigue.
Types of High Blood Pressure
There are two forms of high blood pressure, essential hypertension and secondary hypertension. Around 95 % of hypertension cases are related to essential hypertension. The cause of essential hypertension is multifold, though.
Several factors result in essential hypertension. One of the major factors is high salt intake. Other factors that can contribute to the cause of essential hypertension are tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, obesity, diabetes mellitus, a sedentary lifestyle, and genetic causes.
Secondary hypertension amounts to at least 5 % of the cases of hypertension. The factors contributing to secondary hypertension are pregnancy, a slow pulse, drugs, kidney diseases, certain types of cancers, malformed aorta, and aortic valve disease.
High blood pressure largely remains undetected in its first stage of occurrence. A person would probably never know about it. However, if the condition of high blood pressure is prolonged, it can cause severe damage to the various body organs. High blood pressure can directly affect the person in the form of kidney failure, congestive heart failure, or heart attack.
Treatment For High Blood Pressure
Treatment for high blood pressure depends on its severity. Health conditions like diabetes or damaged organs are critical in treating high blood pressure. Individuals with high blood pressure may lower it by making healthy changes in their daily activities and food regimens. If those lifestyle changes don’t work, medication can be taken.
Low Blood Pressure/ Hypotension
In the medical terms, low blood pressure is called hypotension. A person is said to have low blood pressure disorder if his blood pressure falls below the regular reading of 120/80 mmHg.
Why Low Blood Pressure?
There are many causes of low blood pressure. One common cause is acute illness, characterized by symptoms such as severe blood loss, infection, fluid loss, or damage to the heart. The age factor plays a vital role in low blood pressure. Increasing age stiffens the arteries and drops blood pressure.
Damage to the adrenal glands can also lead to low blood pressure. Adrenal gland damage affects aldosterone production in the body, which controls salt amounts. If the aldosterone hormone is affected, it leads to salt loss from the body, further resulting in low blood pressure. This causes dizziness when you stand up. Low blood pressure can also be caused by the usage of diuretics.
A person with low blood pressure may experience symptoms like chest pain, headache, prolonged diarrhea, or vomiting. They may also experience a burning sensation during urination, a stiff neck, a high fever, and an irregular heartbeat. They may sometimes experience shortness of breath and a cough with phlegm.
Normal is healthy!
Neither high nor low blood pressure is good for your body and health. It would be best to get your blood pressure checked regularly for either of these two disorders. Properly treating and controlling your blood pressure will definitely enable you to live a healthy and happy life!
Lifestyle Changes That Are Essential in Preventing High Blood Pressure
- Lose extra weight
Eat less salt
Exercise
Limit alcohol to 2 drinks daily for men and 1 drink daily for women and lighter-weight men.
Get 3,500 mg of potassium in your diet every day. - Fresh, unprocessed whole foods have the most potassium. These foods include meat, fish, nonfat and low-fat dairy products, and many fruits and vegetables.
Consume diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and are low in fat.
High blood pressure is a health ailment that many have taken for granted. This condition took the lives of over 40,000 Americans in 2002 alone, and about one in three adults suffer from high blood pressure.
People concerned about their health should pay attention to their blood pressure. However, before making major lifestyle adjustments, individuals who wish to lower or maintain their blood pressure should seek the approval of doctors and other health experts.
High blood pressure may not be a problem with a proper lifestyle and food regimen.
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