Essentially, blood pressure is the measure of how hard your heart has to work in order to circulate blood through your body. There are two factors that affect blood pressure: the amount of blood being pumped out of the heart and the amount of resistance as the heart works to pump blood into the general circulation. To understand this better consider this: water running through a narrow hose as opposed through a wider hose. What happens here is that it takes less pressure to pump water into a hose with a large diameter than it does to pump water into a hose with a small one
When at rest, the heart beats about sixty to ninety times per minute. And, with each beat blood is pumped into the arteries which are the pipeline that carries blood throughout the body. Arteries have the ability to expand and contract. An increase in the resistance or volume needs a greater effort by the heart to push the blood forward into the arteries. Over time, the heart, because of increased work may become enlarged and less efficient. Moreover, the arteries may also become damaged because of scarring and loss of elasticity.
If one does not get treatment for high blood pressure, there is the probability that heart disease may occur. Or, there is the risk of getting a stroke, congestive heart failure, and possibly kidney disease. Continue reading ‘High Blood Pressure and the Risk of Heart Disease’ »