How to Fight High Blood Pressure

Keeping a blood pressure level within the normal range is very important to your physical health. Unfortunately, a lot of individuals do suffer from hypertension or commonly known as high blood pressure that can cause several health problems which can be minor or life-threatening ones and you may need urgent care near me. 

 

What is Blood Pressure? Why is it Important to Maintain it to Normal Level? 

Blood pressure is basically how the blood gets passed through the walls of the arteries – it is the actual force or pressure caused by the heart. Once the heart contracts as well as pushes out blood, that is called the systolic blood pressure. On the other hand, once the heart relaxes as well as the blood fills in, that is the diastolic blood pressure. As a matter of fact, the heart cannot pump enough oxygenated blood in order for you stay alive without functioning blood pressure. 

The Effects of Hypertension or High Blood Pressure 

Hypertension or commonly called high blood pressure may develop into severe and life-threatening cases. Some of the complications caused by hypertension may include the following: 

  1. Kidney Failure

Since the kidneys filter waste from the blood, they require healthy blood vessels in order to function. When you have hypertension, your vessels and arteries can also be damaged that can scar your kidneys as well as prevent them from performing the filtration process. This leads in waste and fluid buildup that can seriously cause damage and can require a dialysis treatment or even worse, a kidney transplant. 

  1. Artery Damage

Healthy and normal arteries are flexible and strong with linings so smooth which the blood passes easily through them. Hypertension can greatly impact the artery walls so the blood flow will be limited all throughout your body and the fats will also be gathered in the damaged portions of the arteries. 

  1. Compromised Sleeping Patterns

High blood pressure or hypertension can trigger sleep apnea as well as sleep deprivation. This actually leads to an unhealthy cycle of exhaustion. 

  1. Eye Damage

Since small blood vessels provide blood to the eyes, hypertension can cause retinopathy and damage them temporarily or sometimes, permanently. The effects of retinopathy may range from the blurring of vision to total blindness. In addition to that, optic neuropathy can happen that leads from an obstructed blood flow which can kill the nerve cells in the eyes and then, leads to internal bleeding and loss of vision. 

  1. Stroke

High blood pressure or hypertension can cause the formation of blood clots in your arteries which result to brain damage and/or damage to the blood vessels of the brain. Both of these scenarios can cause stroke that occurs when the brain lacks nutrients and oxygen, leading to the death of brain cells. 

  1. Dementia

Hypertension can also affect cognitive functions and result to problems with thinking, movement, speaking and retaining memory. 

  1. Heart Attack

The burden of the heart from a sustained high blood pressure can result to heart attacks that are definitely life-threatening. 

 

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