Hi Everyone,
In our series of health talks, let's start with one of the most widespread diseases. HYPERTENSION.
Hypertension in simple terms is high blood pressure. It is normally less than 120/80 mm of Hg. But medications for it are mostly started after it rises above 140/80 mm of Hg. First, we should know what is blood pressure and what are the factors affecting it. Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the blood vessels. It is primarily affected by the pumping force of the heart and the diameter of the blood vessels. Now, the pumping force of the heart remains the same or in fact, decreases with advancing age. So, its more or less the diameter of the blood vessels affecting the blood pressure, decrease in diameter increases blood pressure. Another factor that plays a key role in it is the volume of blood which becomes more significant with advancing age.
Now, there can be several causes of high blood pressure which can be some problems with hormones or any problem with kidneys. But today we will talk about blood pressure which does not have any cause. In medical terms, it's called primary or essential hypertension. There is a complex mechanism leading to it but the most important factor is the narrowing of the blood vessels, i.e. decrease in diameter.
How does this narrowing occur? In the later stages of life, like in the late 50s and 60s, there is some hardening of the walls of vessels that can cause increased blood pressure in those people. But most of the time in people less than that age, it occurs due to deposition of lipids also known as fat in the walls of blood vessels. What happens when we eat a lot of carbohydrates or fats in our diet and do not do enough exercise or burn calories to use them? They get converted to these lipoproteins which are molecules having both lipids and proteins. There are many types of them but the most harmful is known as LDL or Low-Density Lipoproteins. They get deposited in these vessels over time and ultimately leading to high blood pressure or hypertension. Just imagine a water pipe, if you narrow its end by pressing it, the water comes out at more speed or pressure out of it. In the same way, the blood in our vessels puts more pressure on the walls and cause high blood pressure.
The main question is why should we care if the blood pressure is high? So first of all, just imagine our heart has to put more force to push this blood across all these narrowed down vessels. It will do fine for the first few years but after that, its muscles start to become weak and later on lead to Heart Failure that is insufficient pumping of the blood by the heart. The second most important complication of high blood pressure is the formation of a clot in blood vessels. How does this happen? The increased blood pressure starts damaging the walls of blood vessels and it exposes the layers of vessels which are underneath that top layer. Now without going into the medical jargon, let me put the next step simplistically, this exposed area acts as a sticky surface for blood cells. These cells start building up at this one place and form a solid mass. This can remain attached to that surface for some time but later on, it can just go with the blood to some other part of the body like heart or brain. If it goes in the brain and gets stuck in some smaller vessel and stops the blood supply, it causes "Stroke." And if it travels to the heart and causes a block there, it is called Myocardial Infarction or simply "Heart Attack."
Now that you know how does this blood pressure rises and how serious it is, let's discuss how we can prevent it from happening. The most important thing that lowers blood pressure is Weight Loss. Even losing a few kilograms can lower your blood pressure significantly. For that, you can exercise, go to the gym, eat healthily and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The next important thing lowering blood pressure over the long term is quitting smoking. But it is hard to quit smoking all of a sudden. It has been proven by research that even lowering your smoking has a beneficial effect on your blood pressure.
The last thing is what to do if you have high blood pressure? First of all, try all of the above things. Then the second thing is to take your medications regularly. A lot of people do not take their medications regularly as they feel that high blood pressure is doing no harm. But the truth is it is doing the damage in the background and it becomes evident late, like in the next 10 to 20 years.
So, this is a brief review and simplistic approach towards high blood pressure for you. If you have any questions, write in comments. Any suggestions are welcomed. If you want me to write about a particular disease let me know. I will try to cover it in the next blog.
Have a healthy day,
Dr. Y