The capillaries, veins, blood vessels, and arteries with the heart at the center that make up your circulatory system are a literal lifeline we need for a multitude of reasons. A superhighway composed of over 60,000 miles of blood vessels, this system pushes blood throughout the body at a speed of 20 seconds to reachthe entire vascular system.
Oxygen, hormones, and a range of nutrients and other vital substances travel in this system, and blood pressure plays a crucial part in that process. The link between your heart’s health and your blood pressure says a lot about how healthy you are, and to find out more, let’s review how blood pressure works, the effects of high blood pressure, and what can be done to avoid it.
Dr. Andrew Nangalama and the experienced medical team at American River Urgent Care work hard to ensure the health of the residents of Orangevale and Rancho Cordova, California, helping with many medical needs, including preserving your heart health.
Just as a plumbing system forces water through pipes under pressure, blood pressure measures the force of blood as it moves through your circulatory system. As your heart beats, it pumps blood into your aorta (a large artery), which connects to the rest of the system to deliver essential substances throughout the body at a rate of up to 100 times per minute.
Blood pressure changes throughout the day, depending on several factors like activity, stress, and rest, but normal levels (measured in millimeters of mercury) are 120 systolic over 80 diastolic (120/80). Systolic measures the pressure of blood as your heart beats, and diastolic measures the pressure at rest between heartbeats.
If the reading remains too high or too low for an extended period of time, you’re diagnosed as being hypertensive ot hypotensive, meaning you have high or low blood pressure. While both conditions are hazardous to heart health, hypertension is very common and can lead to many complications.
Consistently elevated blood pressure above 120/80 is harmful to your heart, but the extent of the damage it can cause depends on how high it is. Here’s the categorical breakdown:
Blood pressure problems affect the flow of blood throughout the body, and as hypertension worsens, it can lead to shortness of breath, headaches, nosebleeds, and a number of severe conditions, including stroke, heart failure, aneurysm, heart attack, and dementia.
Several options can help manage hypertension and the symptoms that accompany it, like lifestyle changes, medications, and other forms of individualized plans, depending on your unique needs.
Changes in your diet (lowering sodium and cholesterol intake, reducing alcohol, and eating more fruits and vegetables), getting more exercise, keeping a healthy weight, and working to lower stress can help lower blood pressure and reduce your chances of developing it.
Drugs like diuretics, calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, ARBs, and ACE inhibitors help keep blood pressure within a healthy range.
Blood pressure is part of heart function, so they are directly linked; problems that affect one will endanger the other. So take care of your blood pressure to treat your heart right. Make an appointment with Dr. Nangalama and American River Urgent Care to keep your blood pressure under control and live a healthy life.
