How To Treat High Or Low Blood Pressure

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

Article by Peterhutch

Hypertension is referred to as essential (primary) when the doctor is unable to identify a specific cause. It is by far the most common type of high blood pressure. The causes of this type are unknown but are likely to be a complex combination of genetic, environmental, and other factors.

High blood pressure is a ‘risk factor’ for developing a cardiovascular disease (such as a heart attack or stroke), and kidney damage, sometime in the future. If you have high blood pressure, over the years it may have a damaging effect to arteries and put a strain on your heart. In general, the higher your blood pressure, the greater the health risks. But, high blood pressure is just one of several possible risk factors for developing a cardiovascular disease.

If those temporary episodes occur frequently, they can cause just as much damage to your blood vessels, heart and kidneys as can chronic high blood pressure. In addition, when you have anxiety, you’re more likely to resort to other unhealthy habits, such as smoking, drinking or overeating — which, in turn, can increase your risk of high blood pressure.

Even if high blood pressure does cause symptoms, the symptoms are usually mild and nonspecific (vague, or suggesting many different disorders).

Malignant hypertension may be associated with headache, light-headedness, or nausea.

Certain nerve impulses cause your arteries to dilate (become larger) or contract (become smaller). If these vessels are wide open, blood can flow through easily. If they’re narrow, it’s harder for the blood to flow through them, and the pressure inside them increases. Then high blood pressure may occur. When this happens, your heart becomes strained and blood vessels may become damaged. Changes in the vessels that supply blood to your kidneys and brain may cause these organs to be affected.

In 90-95 percent of cases, scientists don’t know what causes high blood pressure. This is essential hypertension. Fortunately, although scientists don’t fully understand the causes of this disease, they’ve developed both non-drug and drug treatments that treat it effectively. They’ve also identified some factors that contribute to higher blood pressure. These are arteriosclerosis (or hardening of the arteries), thickening or hypertrophy of the artery wall, and excess contraction of the arterioles (small arteries).

Essential hypertension affects approximately 75 million Americans, yet its basic causes or underlying defects are not always known. Nevertheless, certain associations have been recognized in people with essential hypertension. For example, essential hypertension develops only in groups or societies that have a fairly high intake of salt, exceeding 5.8 grams daily. In fact, salt intake may be a particularly important factor in relation to essential hypertension in several situations.

Hypertension is referred to as essential (primary) when the doctor is unable to identify a specific cause. It is by far the most common type of high blood pressure. The causes of this type are unknown but are likely to be a complex combination of genetic, environmental, and other factors.

The cause of high blood pressure often cannot be found in many teens with hypertension. When the cause is unknown, a person has what’s called essential or primary hypertension. In cases where the cause of high blood pressure is known (called secondary hypertension), it is usually the result of kidney problems, hormonal disorders, abnormalities of the aorta (the main artery that carries oxygenated blood to the body), or a narrowing of certain smaller arteries. Most teens that are diagnosed with hypertension have essential hypertension.

Read about home remedies.Read about skin whitening treatment and eye stye causes treatment remedies

High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Treatment – Reduce your Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the measure of the pressure against the walls of the arteries. There are two forces that form blood pressure. One of the forces is created when the heart pumps blood into the arteries through the circulatory system. The other force is due to the arteries as they resist the flow of blood. Blood pressure is always stated in two numbers, systolic pressure and diastolic pressure. The higher number is systolic pressure which represents the pressure while heart contracts to pump the blood to the body. The lower number is the diastolic pressure which represents the pressure when heart relaxes between the beats.

What is High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)?

High blood pressure or hypertension means high pressure or tension within the arteries. Arteries are the vessels that carry blood from heart to all the tissues and organs of the body. High blood pressure usually has no visible symptoms. There are lots of people whose blood pressures are high, but they do not realize it until it is too late. For this reason, high blood pressure is also called as the silent killer. Hypertension damages the blood vessels. This in turn risks heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. So it is very necessary for one to reduce blood pressure.

Methods to Reduce Blood Pressure

Various scientific studies have shown that following are some of the effective ways one could reduce blood pressure:

1. Weight loss if obese or overweight : It is very important for one to reduce weight if one is obese or overweight. Weight impacts the strain on the heart which disturbs the pumping of blood due to which the pressure increases.

2. Restriction on intake of sodium : The intake of sodium should be restricted or in limit as sodium increases the blood pressure. Sodium intake causes water retention in the body. It is advisable to check the labels of the food packets like potato chips, bread, cheese, etc before buying them. Sodium mustn’t be there in the ingredients. Limit intake of sodium to 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams per day.

]]>

3. Increase intake of potassium, magnesium and calcium : A proper intake of minerals such as potassium, magnesium and calcium helps proper functioning of heart, due to which blood circulation increases and chances of high blood pressure decreases.

4. Reduce or stop intake of alcohol : Avoid alcohol as much as possible. If you cannot avoid it completely, you must limit it to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women.

5. Limit intake of caffeine : Excessive intake of caffeine creates acidity causing stress on heart. This stress may increase the blood pressure.

6. Regular physical exercise : Regular exercise not only increases the blood circulation but also helps in maintaining the weight. It helps the body to perform its functions normally.

7. Increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables and fiber rich food : Increase in consumption of fruits, vegetables and fiber rich foods increases the energy required for the body to perform activity.

8. Cut down high cholesterol and high fat foods : Cholesterol and fats build up blocks in the heart which reduces the circulation of blood from the heart.

9. Stop smoking and stop intake of tobacco : Cigarettes contains nicotine. Nicotine and tobacco causes blood vessels to constrict and your heart to beat faster, which raises your blood pressure.

10. Reduce stress in your life : Reduce the stress in your life as much as possible by relaxation technique, biofeedback or just by avoiding stressful situations and conditions.

Reduce Blood Pressure – Some Treatment Approaches

To treat patient with blood pressure, one should be check if the patient is diabetic or not.

Diabetes increases the chances of cardiovascular disease. So control of blood pressure in diabetes is tougher. The goals for treatment in blood pressure are:-

For diabetic patients:

Systolic pressure: less than 140mg

Diastolic pressure: less than 85mg

For non-diabetic patients:

Systolic pressure: less than 130mg

Diastolic pressure: less than 80mg

Medicinal methods that are used to treat patient with blood pressure are:

1. ACE inhibitors : ACE inhibitors stop the production of hormone called angiotensin. Angiotensin causes the narrowing of blood vessels. ACE inhibitors expand the blood vessels and improve the blood flow.

2. Beta blockers : Beta blockers block the effect of hormone adrenaline and help in conditioning the nervous system of the body. Due to this the heart relaxes and beats slowly and thus the blood pressure reduces.

3. Alpha blockers : It causes blood vessels to widen and relax. It is generally a good combination with beta blockers for effect on resistance of circulation.

4. Calcium channel blockers : It reduces the muscle tension in the arteries, expanding them and creating more room for blood circulation. It also relaxes the heart muscles, reducing the blood pressure.

5. Diuretics : It helps to get rid of salts and excessive fluids through kidney. Helping the blood vessels to relax and reducing strain on blood circulation.

More Blood Pressure How To Reduce Articles