High Blood Pressure and Low Blood Pressure Treated
Blood pressure is the measure of how hard your blood is pushing against the inside of your arteries.
Though a certain amount of pressure is needed to carry blood through your body.
If that pressure is too great, you have high blood pressure, or hypertension, or high blood pressure and if that pressure is too low then you have hypotension or low blood pressure.
Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the risk factors that cause heat stroke, kidney failure, and heart diseases.
The exact causes of high blood pressure are not known, but several factors and conditions may play a role in its development, these are:
Smoking
Being overweight or obese
Lack of physical activity
Too much salt in the diet
Too much alcohol consumption (more than 1 to 2 drinks per day)
Stress
Older age
Genetics
Family history of high blood pressure
Chronic kidney disease
Adrenal and thyroid disorders
Hypotension or low blood pressure is abnormally low blood pressure.
Hypotension can cause dizziness or blurry vision, which may increase the risk of falling or contribute to accidents.
In more serious cases, it reduces the blood flow to the brain and other vital organs.
This decreases the amount of oxygen and nutrients being delivered to these organs and impairs their ability to carry out normal functions. Hypotension may also indicate a more serious underlying health condition.
The causes for low blood pressure are:
Orthostatic hypotension: when there is a sudden drop in blood pressure when a person stands up from a sitting or lying down position.
Neurally mediated hypotension: when a person has been standing for a long period of time or after having an unpleasant or upsetting experience. This is commonly referred to as fainting.
Dehydration: When the body fluids are being lost at a rate faster than they can be replaced, a person’s blood pressure may fall.
Dehydration may be caused by vomiting, fever, severe diarrhea, or strenuous exercise.
Certain medical conditions like thyroid disorders, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels), heart problems, and nervous system disorders – may affect the communication between your brain and the rhythmic pumping of your heart.
Certain medications used to treat high blood pressure, angina, Parkinson’s disease, or depression increase the risk of developing hypotension.
The most severe form of hypotension is shock.
This occurs when blood pressure drops to dangerously low levels, seriously impairing adequate blood flow to vital organs, such as the brain and kidneys.
Shock can be caused by major blood loss.
