5 most common high blood pressure questions answered
Experts discuss hypertension—what it is, methods to manage it, what to avoid, blood vessel damage and controlling your blood pressure.
Transcript
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When you're under stress and you feel your heart pounding, well, that actually might be an increase in your blood pressure.
So we know intuitively, yes, stress does lead to high blood pressure. And it's really important that we manage our stress
to prevent it from developing.
Breathing exercises, meditation, yoga-- all of these things can help prevent the increase in blood pressure
and can help manage our stress. And you know what? It's really important that we manage our stress
because we have to prevent high blood pressure.
Do you have a family history of high blood pressure? Please go to your doctor because this is one of those things that we see in families.
And oftentimes, I see young women in my office with a strong family history of high blood pressure.
And they, too, have it and would never have known it unless they got it checked.
And all you have to do is stick out your arm and get your blood pressure checked. And that's how you'll know.
Salt is something that our bodies need. We need it to actually keep our blood pressure up. We need it for it to keep our cells healthy.
One of the crazy things about salt is it becomes it becomes addictive, and we like to have more and more salt. Salt makes everything taste better.
And that's where the danger lies in processed foods, particularly processed foods where there's a lot of added salt
or, if you go to a restaurant and eat out, there tends to be a lot of added salt. So what does salt do? Well, one thing-- it's actually bad for your blood pressure.
It causes hypertension. It makes it harder for your heart, your blood vessels, and also your kidneys. So there's a warning for cardiovascular disease
for salt. But now there's a new warning for salt, excess salt. And that is it's associated with a risk of stomach cancer.
So how does that actually happen? Well, salt is kind of like road salt during the winter-- scrapes away, wears away that protective lining
in your stomach, the mucous membranes that help protect the cells of the stomach, delicate cells of the stomach. That's like salt in the road creating potholes.
And when you've got a pothole in your stomach, it makes it a lot easier for inflammatory substances, bacteria, and other carcinogens that we might eat.
So for example, the carcinogens from a barbecue or from processed foods or preservatives--
all those wind up just seeping into your cells and causing those cells damage. And so cut down your salt actually will not only
help your blood vessels, your blood pressure, but also reduce your risk of stomach cancer.
Hypertension itself doesn't cause symptoms, but consequences. So hypertension is basically high blood pressure.
So with each beat of your heart, the blood is pumped out of the heart into the blood vessels. And so that's going to cause an increased pressure in the blood
vessel when that blood hits the vessels.
There are no symptoms. There are consequences. And the consequences are heart attacks, stroke, renal failure,
and then we think also cognitive impairment when you get elderly. But those things happen 20 years after the hypertension started.
So by the time you have symptoms, the blood vessels are in bad shape already.
And it's pretty hard to go backwards. It's much easier to prevent this problem in the blood vessels than it is to repair it.
We don't really have a good way of repairing this kind of damage to the blood vessels.
Every so often, I have a diabetes patient come into my practice with high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is one of those tricky things where you might not even know you have it. And if you have diabetes, it's extra, extra
important to know your blood pressure numbers. Why? Well, to start, those with diabetes
are at an increased risk for heart disease, such as heart attacks or strokes. And high blood pressure is also a risk factor for heart disease.
So those with diabetes and high blood pressure are especially vulnerable. That's why it's important to get your blood pressure checked
with your health care provider. This ensures that the levels will go into your medical records. And what's great is that your health care provider
can tell you if additional at-home blood pressure tests would be helpful. But in addition to knowing your numbers, there are changes you can make to your diet,
your exercise habits, and overall lifestyle choices that might help keep those numbers in check.
Talk to your health care provider about safe changes you can make, and possibly medications you can take, to lower your blood pressure.
hypertension
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