There are many health risks of high blood pressure (hypertension–HTN) associated with this risky condition where the blood pressure of an individual is unusually high. A person’s blood pressure is said to be normal if the systolic count is below one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty nine mm Hg and the diastolic count is about eighty mm Hg .When diastolic count is above ninety mm Hg and the systolic count is above one hundred and forty mm Hg the person has high blood pressure.
In general there exist two kinds of hypertension:-
- Essential Hypertension (Primary): This is the most popular hypertension form is usually diagnosed in adults. It is caused mainly by an increase in the systolic pressure.
- Malignant Hypertension (Secondary): This is a multifaceted hypertension form and is identified by a blood pressure increase and damage on some of the vital organs like the kidneys, the eyes, the liver, the brain and so on.
The major causes of high blood pressure include passive lifestyles, excessive intake of alcohol, genetic mutations, obesity, high consumption of fat and salt and a hypertension history in an individual’s family. Heart diseases, kidney failure and strokes are Hypertension’s health risks. Let us look closely at the health risks of high blood pressure.
Arteriosclerosis or Atherosclerosis: This mainly takes place in tendons and joints. Hypertension damages walls of arteries. In response the system repair for the body builds up fatty tissue on the surroundings of the artery wall, hampering the flow of blood. As a result of hypertension, an increase heart pressure occurs; blood supply is reduced to the arms, heart, and kidney and so on. The complexity depends entirely on the blood supply amount and the affected organ.
Aneurysm: There are certain times the pressure increase found on an artery cause it to swell up and then develops a bulge. The bulge may rapture and result in fatal internal building.
Congestive heart failure: This comes about as a result of a heart attack. To compensate for the increase in blood pressure, the heart is forced to work harder. With time the muscles of the heart weaken and this causes a Congestive heart failure.
Enlarged Left Heart: The ventricle on the left side of the heart is responsible for pumping blood to the organs. As a result of blood pressure increase the ventricle is forced to pump more blood than is normal and this makes it enlarge. The people who have a left enlarged heart are at a higher risk of stroke, cardiac arrest and heart attack.
Strokes: There are two different kinds of strokes. The Thrombotic stroke, which comes about as a result of a temporary disruption of oxygen and blood supply heading to the brain and the clotting of blood in the artery is the first. The other type is the haemorrhagic stroke. It comes about when the pressure that has built on arteries causes the rupture of the blood vessels causing a haemorrhagic stroke which may be fatal.
Kidney failure: One of the major hypertension risks is kidney failure. In the kidney there are some tiny vessels known as glomeruli, whose role is to filter waste and fluid that comes from blood. Hypertension destroys the glomeruli and this causes the kidney to scar (glomerulosclerosis). This makes the kidneys not be able to function effectively which leads to the accumulation of waste in high levels in the blood. It is important for one to know the health risks of high blood pressure so as to prevent them before it is too late.