Hypertension and heart disease often go hand in hand. Why is this, and what can help you to keep your heart (and body) healthy? To understand the link, we first have to talk about hypertension – what it is, and how it relates to the heart.
What is Hypertension?
Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure. It’s a chronic condition, and diagnosed by a high systolic pressure reading.
A blood pressure reading is arrived at by the systolic and the diastolic readings, but more weight is given to the systolic. The systolic reading is the top or first number; for example, in 110/80 (read “one ten over eighty”), the systolic number is 110.
Normal blood pressure has a systolic reading between 90 and 119; the normal diastolic reading is between 60 and 79.
Why does a high systolic reading indicate more of a problem than the diastolic? It’s because the top number is the pressure of the blood in the arteries when the heart beats. The diastolic, on the other hand, is the pressure between beats.
High Blood Pressure and Your Arteries
So how does high blood pressure effect your arteries? Here’s an analogy; imagine you’re blowing up a balloon. When you first start blowing air in it, the balloon is floppy. When the pressure gets to be normal, the balloon is stable, and while it can be popped with a sharp object, normal handling is fine.
However, when you start over-filling the balloon with air, the surface becomes more and more tense. At some point, the pressure becomes too much and the balloon pops.
Now imagine that was your arteries. An artery that bursts under pressure is called an aneurysm. If it happens in an artery leading to the brain, it’s a stroke. If it’s in an artery leading into on onto the heart, it’s a heart attack.
Now you know why hypertension is one of the leading causes of coronary heart disease.
Cholesterol and Blood Pressure
Cholesterol and blood pressure are thought to be somewhat intertwined. If there is an excess of LDL cholesterol in your blood, if can start to form a sludge in your arteries. This can harden into something called plaque, and can partially or fully block an artery.
Think for a second about what happens with a garden hose, when you put your thumb almost across the hose end; the water comes out in a higher pressure. And areas that are constantly under a higher pressure can weaken and rupture.
There are ways of lowering cholesterol naturally, and the first thing to do is give up saturated fats and trans fats – learn to read labels!
Now you see why hypertension and heart disease are linked. If you’ve been told that you have high blood pressure, it’s imperative that you get under treatment to lower it – now!