Low blood pressure makes you feel worse, but it's not dangerous. High blood pressure is life-threatening, but often it does not bother us at all. It works silently, like a thief. We may not know that we have high blood pressure.

Hypertensionhas about 10 million Poles. Some of them are unaware of it because they never measure it. This is especially true for young people who are convinced that it is a disease of the elderly. Meanwhile,hypertensionis increasingly found in twenties, teenagers and children.

Pressure problems - treatment without medication

If we measure the pressure at home and find that it exceeds the norm, i.e. 140/90 mmHg, we can try to lower it ourselves while waiting for the visit to the cardiologist. First of all, let's limit s alt, because it is the richest source of sodium, which causes the accumulation of water in the body and increases the tone of smooth muscles of blood vessels, which results in an increase in pressure. The daily dose of s alt should not exceed 5-6 g, and the average Pole eats 15-20 g, because it is present in bread, cold cuts, cheese - almost all processed foods. Therefore, we do not s alt our dishes, so as not to exceed the daily norm of sodium intake. When we are overweight, let's take care of weight reduction, thanks to which we can obtain a further decrease in blood pressure. Let's give up animal fats, fatty meats and cold meats, but eat a lot of vegetables and fruits rich in potassium, which reduces the effect of sodium (e.g. bananas, citrus, tomatoes, potatoes, green leaves, dried fruit and nuts). Let us not regret the time to sleep, because during it, the arteries relax. The pressure is also lowered by regular exercise (4-5 times a week for 30 minutes), during which the production of nitric oxide increases, thanks to which the blood vessels relax more easily and the arteries become less stiff. In the case of hypertension, sports with aerobic (aerobic) effort are recommended, which activate many parts of the muscles, e.g. Nordic walking, cycling, swimming. Such non-pharmacological methods of treating hypertension can be used when it is mild (140-159 / 90-99 mmHg) and we feel well. For some people, they are effective. If we feel unwell (severe headache, chest pain, visual disturbances, weakness), do not wait for an appointment with a cardiologist. Let's look for help from the family doctor or the emergency room.

TOWIDEO Home remedies to reduce pressure

Pressure once up, once down

  • Pressure surges - sometimes significant (e.g. upper pressure can be as high as 200-300 mmHg) - are a common symptom of coronary artery disease.
  • This may be the manifestation of myocardial ischemia, not yet visible on the ECG.
  • Unstable hypertension can also be normalized, but it must be done slowly.
  • The effect of lowering blood pressure too quickly is an ischemic stroke.

Individually selected therapy

Usually it consists in taking not too high doses of 2-3 drugs acting on various mechanisms of pressure increase. It is also possible to use complex drugs that can replace 2-3 specifics, but it is effective only in some patients. Hypertension therapy is selected individually to the patient's profile, which is determined by many factors, including lifestyle, diet, addictions, cholesterol, sugar, electrolytes. The whole range of simple drugs from five therapeutic groups enables better adjustment of the therapy to the patient's profile. However, despite good, safe antihypertensive drugs and their right choice, only 20 percent. In cases of hypertension, treatment is effective because we stop taking the prescribed medication or take it irregularly. The consequences may be: stroke, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, heart and kidney failure, left ventricular hypertrophy, damage to the eye retina.

Blood pressure and genes, age and lifestyle

Over 90 percent patients have primary hypertension for no one specific cause. Rather, it is a tangle of various unfavorable factors. Undoubtedly, one of them is the aging of the body, as a result of which degenerative changes occur in the blood vessels, causing an increase inpressure . Disruptions in the neurohormonal system, i.e. the secretion of pressure regulating substances controlled by the autonomic nervous system, are also of great importance. In 30 percent people with hypertension are determined by genetic predisposition. But also external factors, such as diet (excess s alt, fat, sugar), lifestyle, addictions (drinking alcohol, smoking) and stress also play a role. Only a few percent of patients have secondary hypertension caused by a medical condition, e.g. sleep apnea, adrenal gland tumors, vascular diseases, chronic kidney diseases, aortic coarctation (stenosis).

Pressure problems - warning signals

High blood pressure comes as a surprise to young people. They do not realize that the combination of the aforementioned environmental factors and genetic predisposition may cause it to appear beforethey will reach maturity. But hypertension also surprises 50-year-olds who can expect it because it comes as silent as a thief, without pain or discomfort. Sometimes, however, the body sends out warning signals that may indicate an increase in blood pressure. One of them is the feeling of constant fatigue (this especially applies to young people) that persists despite rest. You should also be concerned about sudden nosebleeds not caused by an injury (e.g. a blow) or a gigantic runny nose. It is often the first sign of hypertension. A common symptom of this disease is pain in the back of the head, in the occipital part, which may be accompanied by a feeling of stiffness in the nape or neck. They escape the attention of people who often suffer from headaches, because they do not think about its location, but take painkillers right away. Insomnia is also characteristic of hypertension. It causes us to be over-aroused, which makes it difficult to fall asleep. Chest pain can also signal this disease. It happens that they are not a symptom of coronary heart disease, but of high blood pressure. When the heart exerts too much effort to force blood into the high-pressure arteries, it becomes temporarily ischemic, resulting in pain.

  • The symptoms of hypertension are dizziness and tinnitus (but the latter symptom is not very characteristic and mainly affects the elderly). There are more frequent visual disturbances (reduced visual acuity, flashes in front of the eyes), which we notice, for example, while driving a car, because we cannot properly assess the situation on the road. As a rule, we do not associate them with hypertension, so we go to an ophthalmologist. And it is he who recognizes this disease in us when examining the fundus. Visual disturbances quite often coexist with headaches. Symptoms of hypertension are also more profuse than usual sweating, frequent feeling of heat, shortness of breath, and flushing of the face. They can confuse women in their fifties who take them for climacteric signals, while such symptoms may be associated, among others, with pressure build-up.
Important

What's your blood pressure test result?

  • 120/80 mmHg - optimal
  • from 120 to 129 / 80-84 mmHg - valid
  • from 130 to 139 / 85-89 mmHg - high correct
  • from 140 to 159 / 90-99 mmHg - mild hypertension
  • from 160 to 179 / 100-109 mmHg - moderate hypertension
  • over 180/110 mmHg - high overpressure

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Category:

Cardiology