CONTROLLING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Many people are unaware of the health risks imposed by even so-called “mild” blood pressures, such as 140/90, and often discontinue their therapy. An 18-year study in Framingham, Massachusetts, shows clearly that, at all adult ages, men and women with elevated blood pressures run an increased risk of heart disease. For example, the risk for a 50-year-old man with “mild” hypertension is 40 percent higher than for one with a “healthy” pressure. Of course, at higher pressures (such as 160 systolic), that 50-year-old’s risk of heart disease runs even higher – 75 percent greater than for a man with a healthy pressure.
Figures collected by the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, show that one white adult in four has high blood pressure; among blacks, it is one adult in three. Regardless of race, women adhere to treatment better than men and, therefore, control their hypertension better.
Blood that courses through your arteries under high pressure takes a heavy toll on your other organs. Bit by bit, the high pressure of circulating blood serves to pile more and more cholesterol, calcium, and scar tissue into the linings of your blood vessels. Soon, their tube-like openings are blocked, closing down the flow. The high pressure „can damage the wall of the aorta, the giant artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of your body. After years of being subjected to high pressure, the heart muscle thins and then can balloon out and burst. Albert Einstein died of this condition.
The pressure also hurts your tiny blood vessels, making it tougher for the heart to push blood through the body’s billions of narrowed channels. In a vicious cycle, your heart pumps harder, raising your blood pressure still higher and causing more injury.
As the blood pressure increases, the left side of your heart works harder and harder to push the blood through. Like any hard-working muscle, the heart gets bigger, but, overworked, it eventually can’t keep up with the demands placed on it. The volume of blood pumped by the heart drops. As a result, you go into congestive heart failure. Once this happens, water piles up in your tissues because, under the reduced blood flow, your kidneys cannot eliminate it. Eventually, you “drown” in your own fluids.
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