When it is not managed properly, high blood pressure, also called hypertension, can lead to some severe health problems. “How do you lower your blood pressure?” is a common question asked by many people who are looking for quick and efficient answers. This article will discuss exactly what high blood pressure entails, its causes, who gets it, diagnosis, treatment and the risks and complications associated with it.
What is High Blood Pressure?
High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition where the force of an individual’s blood against his artery walls becomes too much. It is this force that eventually leads to damages on arteries thereby causing severe health complications such as heart disease, stroke and kidney failure among others. In millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), measurement of blood pressure uses two numbers; systolic pressure (the amount of pressure when the heart beats) and diastolic pressure (the amount of pressure when the heart rests between beats). Normal blood-pressure figures are usually around 120/80 mm Hg.
Causes of High Blood Pressure
There are several factors that can contribute to high blood pressure, including:
- Genes: If there have been cases of high-blood-pressure in your family then you may be at risk.
- Eating Habits: Salt intake being too high, low potassium levels in your body system, drinking alcohol in excess and having a diet which has a lot of saturated fats can increase one’s blood.
- Physical Inactivity: Lack of regular physical activity may lead to weight gain which also increases one’s BP.
- Obesity: Being overweight means that more oxygenated nutrients must be transported all over your tissues thus increasing the arterial wall’s resistance.
- Smoking: The use of tobacco raises your BP and damages your arteries’ lining.
- Stress: When stress levels are very high they temporarily raise BP as well as encouraging habits such as eating too much or drinking too much alcohol or smoking cigarettes.
- Chronic Conditions: Some conditions like diabetes, kidney disease and sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure.
Who Can Have High Blood Pressure?
High blood pressure can affect anyone but there are certain groups which are more at risk than others:
- Age: As an individual grows older, their BP tends to go up.
- Race: This is the major case in African-Americans were hypertension occurs more frequently and develops earlier as compared to whites.
- Gender: Hypertension is common in men before the age of 55 years while women have it after 55 years of age.
- Family History: High blood-pressure often runs in families.
- Lifestyle: Poor diet choices, no exercise, smoking cigarettes and having too many alcoholic drinks are unhealthy lifestyles that increase your chances of getting this condition.
Diagnosing High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is often referred to as a “silent killer” because usually there are no symptoms. Therefore seeking regular checkups for your BP is very important. Typically, diagnosis involves:
- Blood Pressure Measurement: The use of a cuff for taking measurements on arterial pressure.
- Multiple Readings: Since BP varies over the course of the day different readings on various days must be made before final confirmation is done.
- Physical Exam: On some occasions, your doctor may carry out physical examination or ask questions about medical history from you just like any other patient would be treated normally.
- Additional Tests: If you have been diagnosed with having high-blood-pressure it might necessitate going through further tests for example; urine tests, blood tests, electrocardiograms (EKG) or echocardiogram so as to determine underlying ailments.
Treatments for High Blood Pressure
For high blood pressure, an effective plan may include changes to your lifestyle and if necessary medication. Here are some ways to do it:
Lifestyle Changes
- Diet: Adopt a healthy diet such as the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) regimen which emphasizes fruits, whole grains and vegetables as well as fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
- Less Salt Intake: Ideally, try and limit sodium consumption to 1,500 mg daily.
- Exercise: Exercise moderately for at least 150 minutes per week or vigorously for at least 75 minutes per week overall.
- Weight Loss: This can be achieved by losing a small amount of weight if one is overweight.
- Control Alcohol Consumption: Where possible avoid alcohol intake and if you must take it then in moderation.
- Smoking Cessation: This could help better your heart health on an overall basis.
- Stress Management: Engage in relaxation methods such as deep breathing, meditation or yoga.
Medications
If changing your lifestyle does not work, the doctor can prescribe medications such as:
- Diuretics: These help kidneys to eliminate sodium and water from your body.
- ACE Inhibitors: These are known to relax blood vessels by inhibiting the production of a natural chemical that constricts them.
- Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARBs): Tapestry of living cells in this organ allows them to expand leading to relaxation of blood vessel walls.
- Calcium Channel Blockers: They do relax muscles in blood vessels within you.
- Beta Blockers: Also lighten the workload on the heart and open up blood vessels so that it beats slowly and weakly.
Risks and Complications of High Blood Pressure
Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to:
- Heart Attack or Stroke: High blood pressure may make arteries harden and thicken (atherosclerosis) which may result in a heart attack, stroke or other complications.
- Aneurysm: Increased blood pressure causes weakening and ballooning formation of blood vessels leading to aneurysms. A ruptured aneurysm can be deadly.
- Heart Failure: To overcome the increased pressure in your blood vessels, the heart must pump harder and this results in a thickening of the walls of its pumping chamber (left ventricular hypertrophy). Ultimately, this thickened muscle becomes too weak to pump sufficient blood to meet your body’s demands thus leading to heart failure.
- Kidney Disease: Hypertension can damage the arteries surrounding your kidneys and impair their ability to filter blood properly.
- Vision Loss: Hypertension can bring about thicker, narrower or torn blood vessels in the eyes causing loss of sight.
- Metabolic Syndrome: This cluster refers to a host of metabolic conditions such as large waist circumference, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and high insulin concentrations which increase susceptibility for diabetes mellitus type 2, cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Conclusion
High blood pressure is a very serious condition that needs care. Knowing how it comes about, what dangers are involved with it and how you can treat it will go a long way in helping you maintain desirable levels of blood pressure. Lifestyle changes as well as regular monitoring if necessary together with medication are effective ways in which one can control hypertension.
FAQs
Q: How can you lower your blood pressure in minutes?
A: You can try relaxing, deep breathing, and taking water so as to rapidly decrease your blood pressure. However, these measures are short-term only; thus you need permanent approaches for sustained control.
Q: What can I take to lower my blood pressure?
A: Depending on the situation at hand, your doctor might prescribe diuretics, ACE inhibitors, ARBs, calcium channel blockers or beta blockers. Always make sure you consult your physician before using any drug.
Q: Can lifestyle changes really make a difference in lowering blood pressure?
A: Yes indeed lifestyle changes such as healthy dieting, regular exercising, reducing salt intake, stopping smoking and stress management can significantly help lowering high blood pressure.
Q: How often should I check my blood pressure?
A: For those patients with high blood pressure they may need to be checked regularly even every day while others may just need at least once a year checkup.
Q: Is high blood pressure hereditary?
A: Genetics contributes to hypertension development. If anyone in your family has had hypertension before then you are more likely to develop it too.
By addressing the factors that contribute to high blood pressure and implementing appropriate lifestyle changes, you can manage and reduce your blood pressure, leading to a healthier and longer life.
