Arterial pressure

Blood pressure is the force exerted on the walls of blood vessels by the blood flowing through them. It arises due to the work of the heart, which tirelessly contracts and relaxes, pushing blood from large vessels to the most well-aimed capillaries, thus organizing blood circulation, that is, the constant movement of blood through the body. At the same time, oxygen and nutrients necessary for life are distributed by blood flow through organs and tissues. The basic functions of the body and the state of health and well-being of a person largely depend on the level of pressure.

Types of pressure

There are many characteristics to describe blood pressure.

It has two main indicators, which have the following names:

• Upper or systolic.
• inferior or diastolic.

Upper pressure is data that is recorded by devices during the contraction of the heart (systole) and the release of the next portion of blood. Lower pressure is noted at the time of diastole or relaxation of the heart muscle. When taking readings, both information must be taken into account - both upper and lower pressure, since these figures can serve as an indication of the presence of any deviations in the patient's state of health.

The classic “correct” pressure level is considered to be 120 over 80, but each person is individual, so a slight deviation cannot be considered a pathology. For example, an increase in the data to 140 over 90 in most cases will be regarded as high pressure, and 100-110 over 70 as low pressure. In some cases, such a deviation is not a pathology, but just a variant of the norm; it does not have a negative impact on human health and is most often a hereditary condition. In other people, a change in pressure indicators may indicate the development of a number of diseases, often occurring in a latent form.

Blood pressure can be normal, high or low. High blood pressure is called arterial hypertension, and if it becomes chronic, then the disease associated with a constant rise in pressure will be called arterial hypertension.

Low blood pressure also creates a lot of health problems for the patient. This pressure is called hypotension. Both high and low pressure indicators can cause a lot of trouble for patients, moreover, they negatively affect overall well-being and provoke deterioration in health.

Hypertension has two forms:

• Essential - mainly caused by hereditary predisposition, the presence of bad habits, poor lifestyle, eating habits, obesity, inactivity, and so on.
• Symptomatic - accompanies some serious diseases, for example, damage to the kidneys, liver, nervous and cardiovascular systems, atherosclerosis and other diseases.

To correct pressure indicators, various methods are used, both functional and medicamentous. Since each person's health problems are individual, the doctor selects the type of treatment and medications specifically for each patient.

Signs of a change in pressure level

Each person experiences pressure changes differently. Some may not feel a drop or rise in pressure up to a certain level, only when extreme indicators are reached, feeling discomfort and impaired well-being, while others perceive a change in pressure by only 10 units very brightly and painfully.

Elevated blood pressure has a different clinical picture than low blood pressure.

It is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Headache, most often in the back of the head. Sometimes accompanied by a feeling of pressure, pulsation or "bursting" in the temples.
• Vertigo, especially on exertion.
• Flushes of heat, accompanied by reddening of the face, and in some cases of the entire upper half of the body.
• Strong perspiration.
• Shortness of breath, palpitations, ringing in the ears, especially with physical effort or emotional overstrain.
• The appearance of dark spots or flashes of light before the eyes.

These signs should alert the person and force him to undergo an examination in the hospital. If the diagnosis of "arterial hypertension" is confirmed, the doctor will prescribe treatment, which in no case should be abandoned. If this is not done, hypertension will not go away by itself, but will only progress, turning into hypertension - a dangerous disease that will bring with it a whole “bouquet” of concomitant diseases and in the future, in the absence of normal treatment, threatens with strokes and heart attacks.

The symptoms of hypotension are very different from those of hypertension:

• Headache is mainly localized in the temples and in the frontal lobe of the brain.
• The patient feels severe weakness, lethargy and drowsiness.
• Ability to work, especially in the morning, is sharply reduced.
• The disease is accompanied by dizziness, nausea up to vomiting.
• With a sharp change in body position, darkening in the eyes, dizziness with loss of consciousness and fainting are possible.

Like hypertension, hypotension requires competent correction and lifestyle changes. Although with hypotension, the pressure levels off when taking a horizontal position and the person begins to feel better, in no case should he refuse dosed and feasible physical activity, otherwise this will lead to aggravation of the health problem.

What brings a person deviations from the norm

Both high and low blood pressure have an extremely negative impact on the patient's quality of life. With hypertension, a person extremely poorly tolerates high air temperature, it is difficult for him to be in a cramped unventilated room, travel in public transport, and perform physical work associated with stress. The slightest emotional stress can cause an increase in pressure, and, as a result, a sharp deterioration in well-being.

Arterial hypertension, which has already become a chronic disease for a person, constantly puts his life at risk. It creates a high load on the vessels and the heart, provoking the occurrence of their diseases. A sudden high increase in indicators - a hypertensive crisis - threatens the patient with a severe attack with fainting and loss of consciousness, which can happen suddenly, at any time of the day or night: at work, on a walk, in transport. If at this moment the patient is not provided with quick, correct and timely assistance, the result can be very sad. Also, long-term hypertensive patients are threatened by strokes and heart attacks, especially if the disease went unnoticed for a long time, and its treatment was absent or was episodic, symptomatic, that is, drugs were taken not according to a strict scheme, but from time to time. Such treatment for hypertension is clearly insufficient, since there is also a need to make changes in the patient's lifestyle, in his eating habits and attitude to physical activity.

Low blood pressure is no less of a problem. First of all, it threatens human performance. A person suffering from hypotension for a long time in the morning cannot concentrate, he has a lot of time unproductively spent, and the work performed at that moment can be done with errors. Drowsiness causes lethargy, speech coherence, which interferes with a number of professional features, for example, for a teacher, lecturer, artist, and so on. A person constantly wants to sleep, his eyes are watery and activity is at its lowest level.

This condition is accompanied by a number of unpleasant symptoms:

• increased heartbeat,
• headache,
• feeling of lack of oxygen
• dizziness
• chilliness
• short-term memory impairments.

Indicator diagnostics

If a patient has high or low blood pressure, in the future he will need regular measurement of his data in order to be aware of what is happening and take special medications in time to correct the indicators. For this purpose, the patient should have a tonometer at home - a device for measuring pressure.

It is best to purchase an electronic tonometer for these purposes. This is a modern device, which is very easy to use, showing accurate data not only on the state of blood pressure, but also on the pulse. This is very useful, especially if measurements are taken immediately after exercise.

In the hospital, if you suspect high or low blood pressure, to identify the cause of such phenomena, the patient will be assigned a whole range of examinations:

• General blood analysis.
• General urine analysis. These two indicators will help the specialist assess the general health of the patient, as well as identify the presence of anemia, inflammation, metabolic disorders and other possible pathologies.
• Blood chemistry. It focuses on determining the level of "bad" and "good" cholesterol.
• Blood glucose level. In type II diabetes, its level is high, the disease is hidden and can cause a persistent increase in pressure.
• The study of electrolytes for an increase in the amount of sodium.
• Blood test for clotting. At high pressure, there is often a risk of thrombosis.
• ECG. An electrocardiogram will reveal the presence of disorders in the work of the cardiovascular system.
• Ultrasound of the kidneys, in which it is possible to determine the presence of problems in their work that affect the state of blood pressure.

Methods for dealing with pressure changes

Only a qualified doctor can treat high or low blood pressure, self-medication is extremely dangerous, especially in the case of hypertension. The selection of drugs and methods of exposure is selected individually, based on the characteristics of the health and age of the patient.

With hypotension, drugs are usually prescribed that tonic and gently raise the level of pressure.

These are the following tools:

• Ginseng.
• Eleutherococcus.
• Rhodiola rosea.
• Zamaniha.
• Reindeer antler extract (Pantocrine and other preparations of similar origin).

Based on plant and animal raw materials, many tablet and liquid preparations have been created today that can stimulate a rise in blood pressure.

For hypertension, the following drugs are used:

• Diuretics (diuretics).
• calcium antagonists.
• ACE inhibitors.
• Adrenoblockers.
• Angiotensin antagonists.

Selects and prescribes the timing of admission, doses only the attending physician personally for each patient.

Prevention

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential to keep your blood pressure within the normal range. It is completely in vain to assume that a sparing regimen with minimal mobility can help maintain healthy pressure. On the contrary, only under the condition of moderate, but regular physical exertion, it is able to be in good shape, without falling or rising. This is how our body was created - an organ, system or function becomes unusable if it is not exploited sufficiently. Since pressure is directly related to the state of the vascular system and heart health, without moderate and feasible physical exertion, it will certainly change, deviating from the norm.

Overload is another matter. These are the ones that should be avoided at all costs. That is, it is extremely harmful for a hypertensive or hypotensive person to work out in the gym, lifting weights or making sudden movements, but it is very useful to go for walks, jog, swim, ride a bike or do various types of gymnastics, especially Pilates and yoga, where there are no excessive loads. and the cardiovascular system is well trained.

• In addition to overloading the physical plane, it is necessary to avoid stresses of a different kind - psycho-emotional. This is especially important for people who are irritable, excitable, who react painfully to even minor troubles. Usually, pressure rises sharply during stress, as the body releases adrenaline and other hormones into the bloodstream, stimulating the acceleration of cardiac activity and, as a result, an increase in blood pressure.
• For hypotension, sleep and rest are important. They need a fairly long full sleep, preferably going to bed and getting up at the same time, waking up not by an alarm clock, but on their own, since for this group of people a sudden awakening with a rapid change in body position is usually accompanied by extremely unpleasant sensations - dizziness, weakness, nausea, blurred vision. They are better off doing it gradually, allowing the pressure to adapt to the change in position, and also start their morning with coffee or strong tea to tone up.

• A contrast shower, hardening, swimming, dousing with cold water also helps to relieve lethargy and drowsiness - in a word, everything that can stimulate the vascular system.
• Another important factor in preventing changes in blood pressure is nutrition.
• Overeating, obesity, preference for fatty, heavy, salty and spicy, artificial food, alcohol abuse and smoking leads to problems with the state of blood vessels and the development of not only hypertension, but also other diseases. Especially carefully you need to handle ordinary table salt - it has been proven that its excess contributes to fluid retention and the development of arterial hypertension.