How can I lower my blood pressure?
Elevated blood pressure values reflect the vascular situation of the body. High blood pressure is often based on calcified vessels because the lumen of the vessel is reduced but the same amount of blood is pumped through it. Calcified vessels are called arteriosclerosis and are associated with an increased risk of stroke and heart attack.
The constricted vessels in turn increase the resistance for the volume of blood that is pumped through them, so that they increase the blood pressure even further. Many different methods can be used to lower blood pressure. The most important measure is usually weight normalization, since blood pressure is strongly dependent on body weight.
Overweight people therefore often show increased blood pressure values. Therefore, sufficient exercise and a balanced diet are helpful in normalising blood pressure. Excessive salt consumption should also be avoided.
Caffeinated drinks such as coffee or cola also increase blood pressure and should only be consumed in moderation. Smoking and the consumption of alcohol also raise the blood pressure. Various substances have shown a positive effect as household remedies. These include beetroot, ginger and garlic. In the last step, drugs against high blood pressure can be used to lower blood pressure in the long term and prevent secondary diseases.
Changes in blood pressure values
During pregnancy, blood pressure must be especially controlled, as high values and low values can be bad for the development of the child. Therefore, the blood pressure of pregnant women is routinely measured by a gynaecologist. Values above 140/90 mmHg are too high.
Women who already had high blood pressure before pregnancy are particularly at risk, as it can rise even further during pregnancy. If they have previously taken medication against it, they usually switch to the medication alpha-methyldopa. During sports, systolic blood pressure rises to values of up to 220 mmHg.
This is normal and not harmful in healthy people. The pulse rate also rises during exercise. These values are also used in an exercise ECG on a bicycle ergometer or treadmill.
With this one can observe the heart rate and blood pressure under stress and see indications of heart damage in the ECG. It is stopped when the maximum pulse rate is reached (220 minus age/minute), pain or exhaustion. In the long term, exercise lowers blood pressure and is one of the most important therapeutic and preventive measures for high blood pressure.
It also reduces body weight. Hypertension sufferers should rather do endurance training, but avoid peak loads with high blood pressure peaks. Sport can also be counterproductive in the case of hypotension, as blood pressure drops even more after exercise.
Therefore, people with low blood pressure should only do light endurance sports and not push their limits. Nevertheless, the significance of the two blood pressure values for the blood supply of the body changes depending on age. The diastolic value plays a rather minor role from the age of about 50 years.
The reason for this is that the systolic value reacts more sensitively to vascular changes such as arteriosclerosis. It is precisely this process that is a typical phenomenon of the ageing of our arterial blood vessels. In young adulthood, the two values are considered more or less equivalent.
An isolated increase in the diastolic blood pressure value is usually the first sign of the development of arterial hypertension. This isolated occurrence is also called secondary hypertension. Ultimately, an interaction of both phases (systole and diastole) is essential for healthy heart muscle activity.
Above all, too high a blood pressure amplitude (difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure) is considered a risk factor for chronic heart muscle weakness. Changes in blood pressure with age: Due to certain processes in the blood vessels, an increase in arterial blood pressure is relatively normal with age. About every second 60-year-old person suffers from arterial hypertension.
Again, a healthy diet or a healthy lifestyle plays a central role as a protective factor. Vascular changes include the deposition of fatty plaques on the arterial walls and the loss of elastic fibres in the major body arteries (such as the aorta). This “stiffening” and constriction by plaques favours this development.
The partial loss of elasticity reduces the aorta‘s air vessel function. It is precisely this aorta that, in its entire function, ensures a continuous flow of blood to the periphery, in which the aorta initially retains 50% of the expelled blood after each systole. The partial loss of this air vessel function results in an uninterrupted blood flow.
While the systolic blood pressure value usually rises continuously during the aging process, the diastolic blood pressure value first shows an increase and then drops again towards the age of 70. The blood pressure amplitude thus becomes steadily larger. Isolated systolic hypertension is the result (most common form of age-related hypertension).
Especially the systolic blood pressure with a higher value is a danger for the blood vessels. As these become inelastic and more susceptible in old age, the risk of a stroke or heart attack increases significantly. During a myocardial infarction (occlusion of one or more coronary arteries/branches), the blood pressure value can change or in some cases remain inconspicuous.
Depending on how a heart attack manifests itself, the blood pressure can also react differently. A silent myocardial infarction (especially in diabetes mellitus patients with consecutive polyneuropathy) can occur without symptoms, and a rise in blood pressure seems unlikely. On the other hand, heart palpitations, anxiety and sweating can occur due to sympathetic activation.
Pain radiating into the area of the sternum, shoulder, neck and epigastrium is also typical. This makes an increase in blood pressure very likely. Normally, a meal should not cause large fluctuations in blood pressure values.
Various diseases, however, can cause this. Pathological conditions of the pancreas, among other things, can cause a rapid rise in blood pressure values. Also gastrointestinal ulcers can cause blood pressure to rise due to their painful manifestation in the epigastrium.
