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[W438]What Increases Blood Pressure

by David Silva, Dav

How Does Low Blood Pressure Happen?

While it was once thought that chronic low blood pressure may be linked to illnesses such as depression or anxiety, the truth is that more commonly it's a side effect of medications, especially cardiac drugs such as betablockers. But medications aren't the only culprits. Here are a few others:

- As you get older and slow down, your arteries tend to lose their elasticity. This can cause your pressure to dip when you're standing.

- Damage to the nerves supplying your blood vessels, caused by diabetes, can bring down your blood pressure.

- Poor nutrition, which causes the tissues making up the walls of the blood vessels to become flabby and stretched and robs the body of oxygen and nutrients, can contribute to this condition.

- Blood loss can be a major factor. In fact, if it's a situation where there's major blood loss then your blood pressure can fall to such a low level that the consequences can be fatal.

- Many of the organs in the body can develop slow bleeding which would not be noticeable at first but could result in danger to your equilibrium, your heart, even your brain.

How Do You Know If Yours Is Too Low?

90/60 mmHg is considered low blood pressure. The top number of your blood pressure reading, or the systolic pressure, represents the pressure of the blood forced through your arteries when the heart muscles contract. The diastolic pressure, which is the bottom number, represents the pressure in the arteries when the muscle of the heart relaxes after contraction.

What Are The Symptoms?

By itself, low blood pressure does not necessarily cause symptoms. However, some people may experience faintness or dizziness. Other possible symptoms can include feeling faint or dizzy when suddenly standing up (this is known as postural hypotension and is quite common in older people), or feeling lethargy or weakness. Obviously, if either of these apply to you, then you'll want to visit your doctor to rule out any potential underlying problems.

What Do You Do If You Have It?

Drugs for this situation are rarely given. More commonly, your doctor will suggest some changes in your lifestyle. There are some other things you can do as well. Wearing support stockings has been found to help some people. Other measures can include sleeping with extra pillows to keep your head raised, or even reducing the amount of medication you're taking. As always, consult with your doctor.

The Good News

Low blood pressure does not necessarily indicate poor health. In fact, it's often seen to be desirable. Research has found that people who have a low blood pressure tend to live longer than those who experience hypertension. It's only when a person becomes ill or feels dizzy, that a drop in pressure becomes a problem.

Blood pressure changes especially during the day and at its lowest when you are sleep. However, it rises when you get up or when you are excited, nervous as well as when you are doing active activities. Moreover, for most of your usual activities your blood pressure remains pretty much the same whether you are sitting or standing still. A blood pressure reading of 140/90 or 140 over 90 or even higher signifies that you have a high blood pressure. The thing that happens when you have a high blood pressure is that your heart tend to work extra harder thus causing your arteries to take an extra beating which may result to a stroke, heart attack as well as kidney problems. In addition, if either one of the systolic or the diastolic number is higher it signifies a high blood pressure. Aside from that, people who have been treated for high blood pressure will still have high blood pressure even if they have already repeated readings of normal blood pressure range.

When there is not a single specific cause of high blood pressure known, such kind of high blood pressure is termed as essential or primary high blood pressure. However, in some people high blood pressure may be the result of some medical problem or may be the cause of taking some medications. When the cause of high blood pressure is known this is termed as secondary high blood pressure.

Article Source : Very High Blood Pressure

About Author

Both David Silva & Jinky C. Mesias are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

David Silva has sinced written about articles on various topics from Acid Reflux, Recreation and Sports and Sleep Apnea. David Silva is the webmaster for a website dedicated to helping you understand. David Silva's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.

Jinky C. Mesias has sinced written about articles on various topics from Anger Control, Blood Pressure. Jinky C. Mesias is a lover of simple things and of nature. She spend most of her time reading and writing poetry.For comments and suggestions about the article kindly log on to. Jinky C. Mesias's top article generates over 590 views. to your Favourites.