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Hypertension does more than just leave you with a racing heart. The side effects of hypertension are very evident on the overall health and do have the potential of even causing death, if the symptoms aren’t handled effectively.
If you are worried about the consequences, you don’t necessarily need to. Mitigation is possible for hypertension, so if you are here fretting about the consequences, don’t.
By the end of this article, you will have a fair idea about the complications associated with hypertension and everything there is to know about the effects of high blood pressure on the body.
What Causes Hypertension?
Some of the common causes behind hypertension include:
- Consuming a salt rich diet
- Chronic kidney disease
- Underlying health issues like heart disease
- Diabetes
- High cholesterol levels
- Stress
- Low potassium in the diet
- Excess consumption of alcohol
- Medications
These are just a few of the common causes that could be a contributing factor to high blood pressure. It is very important to get the signs checked because the unchecked symptoms often have the potency to end up causing havoc in the body.
Side Effects of Hypertension
If you have been consistently suffering from the condition, chances are that you either need to seek immediate medical help or find ways to manage the symptoms on your own.
You’d be surprised to know that this condition has the potency to destroy the body to a heightened extent before you finally come to experience the symptoms altogether. Let’s take a look at them, shall we?
1. How Does it Affect the Vascular System?
The vascular system in our body, otherwise known as the blood vessels around our body are technically programmed to impact our overall health, if there is some negative implications with the same.
In normal and healthy conditions, the arteries are not just flexible but strong and elastic as well. And that is how it is supposed to be. It is important to promote easy and smooth blood flow.
Hypertension has been found to have negative impacts on the blood vessels, especially the arteries.
Ever wondered the potential complications of hypertension on arteries?
Aneurysm
Aneurysm (R) is one of the most fatal side effects of hypertension. The condition is characterized by the evident development of a bulge following the constant movement of blood through a weakened artery. This condition does have the potential to even end up causing excessive internal bleeding, further complicating the situation altogether.
Damaged Arteries
Next of the complications of high blood pressure is the fact that it can directly impact the arteries and even end up rupturing the inner lining of the arteries. Consuming a high cholesterol diet has been found to be one of the most common reasons behind the problem, making it hard for the blood to pass on smoothly without disruptions.
How Can You Prevent This?
Given the fact that both of these problems arise from weakened arteries, it is always best suggested to maintain a diet that doesn’t contain a lot of unhealthy fats and cholesterol rich foods which directly affects the arteries and ends up forming plaques which contribute to hypertension altogether.
2. How Does it Affect the Nervous System?
If you thought that the impacts of hypertension are just limited to the circulatory system in the body, it is important that you think twice.
Given the fact that our blood supply impacts the overall body functions, the impairment in the same does have the potency of impacting the overall health as well.
Much like that, the common side effects of Hypertension does extend to the nervous system as well.
Hypertension has the potential to cause impairments in the blood flow to one of the most important organs in the nervous system, the brain (R). It has been found that the lack of proper blood flow through the body does impose heightened risks of affecting the overall prospect of memory as well as cognitive thinking.
The lack of proper blood flow can make it harder for your memory to consolidate which results in making it harder for you to remember things at times.
Much like cardiovascular diseases, even with the brain, the implications are the same. If the blood supply throughout the brain isn’t necessarily the best, chances are that there could be a formation of blood clots which can end up causing brain strokes.
Given the fact that blood is what carries oxygen throughout the body, the lack of blood supply to the brain can end up depriving the brain off of oxygen which has been found to have ended up causing cell death in the brain.
Transient Ischemic Attack
One of the most common side effects of hypertension on the brain is evident in the form of a transient ischemic attack. It is often times referred to as a mini-stroke but does have negative implications that take you a long time to recover.
The condition is predominantly the outcome because of atherosclerosis or the blood clot in the blood vessels supplying to the brain.
How Can You Prevent that?
Owing to the fact that we don’t necessarily take the symptoms seriously, there are possibilities that the side effects of too much blood pressure can end up being witnessed by you way later than you should.
Whatever the condition be, make sure that if you experience unusual symptoms like persistent headache along with the common symptoms of hypertension, it is best to seek medical help to manage the condition effectively. This condition does act as a warning that something worse is on the way. Make sure to avoid that for good.
3. How Does it Affect Your Heart?
Given the fact that the heart is the main organ which pumps in and out blood from and to the body, it is very important to ensure that the organ is supplied with enough blood to ensure that it functions optimally.
Uncontrolled high blood pressure does have the potency of impacting the heart in a number of ways, some of which include:
Coronary Artery Disease
One of the primary reasons behind the induction of hypertension (R) is because of the narrowing of the blood vessels, especially the arteries that are supply blood to the heart. Coronary artery disease is caused because of the narrowing of the arteries that are supplying to the heart.
The persistent prevalence of this condition (R) does have the potency to end up causing rupture and lesions to the arteries, thereby making the situation worse even further.
When there is a lack of optimal amount of blood flow to the heart, you are bound to experience some of the complications of high blood pressure like angina, arrhythmia or even myocardial infarction.
Enlargement of the Left Portion of the Heart
Yet another one of the effects of high blood pressure on the body is the fact that it does end up causing enlargement of the left portion of the heart. High blood pressure does make your heart work harder to pump blood to other parts of the body.
The extensive labour induced in the process does end up making the muscles of the heart fatigued and even can cause enlargement of the left portion of the heart. Predominantly, it has been found to end up making the left ventricle to thicken up causing left ventricular hypertrophy (R) which limits its function altogether.
The persistent presence of this condition does have the ability to increase the risks of heart attack and even cause heart failure which is what we are going to talk next.
Heart Failure
Last but not least is the worst kind of impacts that you could possibly experience altogether. Heart failure is often times the last resort for the condition.
High blood pressure puts a strain on the functioning of the heart and can even end up causing issues altogether for your heart. If you are experiencing something similar, it is always best suggested to consult a doctor right away.
The heightened pressure on the heart affects the muscles in the heart, making it fail in the long run when the impacts are persistent altogether. Heart attack is often the last resort in this condition that the majority of the patients often go through.
How Can You Prevent that?
Coming on to discussing how to avoid such symptoms can be a bit of an issue altogether. It is very important to think before you act. If you are finding it hard for you to handle the symptoms, just ensure that you do consult a doctor with the symptoms to get the underlying issue checked out for good.
4. How Does it Affect Your Skeletal System?
If you thought that high blood pressure is only associated with the muscular portions of the body, you are mistaken. The same has been found to impose quite a good amount of side effects on the body, especially on the bones in the body.
Hypertension has been linked to the induction of osteoporosis (R) (R). The same has been found to be happening because of the fact that the high blood pressure ends up causing more calcium to be excreted out of the body when you urinate.
This specific condition gets worse for women who are going through their menopause.
How Can You Prevent That?
If you are diagnosed with hypertension, the best way to combat this condition is by enriching the daily diet with food sources that would help regulate the calcium reserves in the body and compensate for the amount that you are losing altogether.
5. How Does it Affect Your Kidneys?
With some of the major organs out of the way, it is important that we focus on the organ that handles and regulates the process of excretion in our body.
The proper functioning of the kidney is important to discard the unprecedented amount of toxins and harmful waste out of the body. It is very important to ensure that you do indulge in finding ways to enhance the overall functioning of the kidneys, especially if you are suffering from hypertension.
The prevalence of hypertension does have the potential to induce a number of negative impacts on the kidneys, some of which include:
Kidney Artery Aneurysm
The very first and the most common impact that affects the kidney is the aneurysm in one of the arteries supplying the kidney with the blood. Atherosclerosis has been considered to be one of the most common reasons behind the same which does end up making the artery walls weak. The formation of the bulge around the blood vessel does have the potential to end up rupturing the kidney function and even cause internal bleeding.
Glomerulosclerosis
Also known as kidney scarring in simpler terms, Glomerulosclerosis is a condition which causing scarring and damage to the glomeruli in the kidney. This specific part of the kidney has been found to have beneficial impacts in inducing better filtration of the waste for removal out of the body. Impacts on this do have the potential to end up affecting the overall process of waste removal altogether.
Kidney Failure
The last and the worst of them all is the fact that the condition of hypertension does end up causing kidney failure. The main reason behind the same is because of the fact that the condition of high blood pressure does have the potential to damage the arteries that supply the kidneys with the optimum amount of blood.
Owing to the fact that the process of filtration is hampered, the same ends up inducing the accumulation of the unwanted wastes in the body, causing a rise in the toxicity of the body. The condition can require dialysis or even transplantation if the situation calls for it.
How Can You Prevent That?
Kidneys are often taken for granted all the while when it is actually one of the most important organs in the body. If you personally have been experiencing something negative or bad happening to your body, it is very important to ensure that you do take the necessary precautions and even consult a doctor to get the symptoms checked out.
6. How Does it Affect Your Respiratory System?
Much like how the condition of hypertension has the capability of inducing blockages in the heart and the brain as well, the same does can even end up causing obstruction in the airways in the body as well.
Pulmonary arteries which supply the lungs with blood can have the potential to get blocked because of the side effects of hypertension. In such conditions, there are possibilities for the body to end up experiencing the signs of pulmonary embolism. It is very important to get immediate help for this condition as it can even end up causing aneurysm without any proper medical attention.
Research (R) (R) has also linked the complications of high blood pressure with that of sleep apnea which is yet another one of the negative impacts altogether.
How to Prevent?
Much like any other form of the side effects, even this can effectively be prevented if you opt for the correct precautions to handle them.
It is very important to ensure that you talk to a medical professional as soon as the symptoms start to set it because that is what helps in timely prevention from it to get worse even further.
7. How Does it Affect Your Eyes?
Hypertension and its complication also do have impacts on the eyes and the blood vessels that supply them. Much like any of the other blood vessels, even this is subjected under threat if not handled on time.
Retinopathy
The very first impact that could definitely witness or experience is the induction of retinopathy or the damage to the eye blood vessel. The persistent presence of high blood pressure can impact the blood supply to the retina, causing it to deteriorate altogether.
This condition has been found to contribute to bleeding in the eye, blurred vision and can even contribute to the complete loss of vision. If you are a diabetic suffering from hypertension, it is important that you take necessary care to prevent the condition from getting worse.
Choroidopathy
This medical condition has been witnessed to contribute to the fluid buildup around the retina. The primary reason behind the same is because of the fact that choroidopathy can hamper the normal functioning of the retina and the structures surrounding the same.
The same can even contribute to the induction of distorted vision and issues associated with the condition even further.
Nerve Damage in the Eyes
Eyes are all encapsulated around in a close cavity which is why it is very important to ensure that you take the closer note into the same because of the consequences that it brings along itself. The blocked and obstructed blood flow through the blood vessels supplying the eyes and the optic region can end up causing pressure around the eye and even contribute to internal bleeding, causing further damage to the eyes.
How to prevent?
When it comes to prevention for these specific potential complications of hypertension, it depends on how close you are looking out for the signs and symptoms. If you are finding and feeling any kind of discomfort around the eye region, consult an ophthalmologist to get the signs and symptoms checked out.
8. How Does it Affect the Reproductive System?
The side effects of too much blood pressure are also relayed to the reproductive system in both men and women.
The combination of age, as well as high blood pressure, has been found to have impactful changes on the reproductive system in both genders, especially men. It has been found that with time, the blood vessels supplying the penis tend to get hardened and narrow because of the lack of blood flow through them. This has often been found to have disruptive changes in the problems associated with erectile dysfunction.
Not just in men, this condition and hamper to the reproductive system has also been witnessed around in women as well. Hypertension has been found to obstruct the blood flow to the vagina. This has often been found to have impacts in the sexual arousal, lubrication and even in the induction of pain during coitus.
Sexual dysfunction is a possibility when it comes to both men and women suffering from elevated levels of blood pressure.
How to prevent?
Managing the blood pressure is a must do when it comes to preventing and getting rid of the signs and symptoms associated with sexual dysfunction that could arise because of the condition mentioned.
9. How Does it Affect Your Mental Health?
Given the fact that stress is possibly one of the most influencing factors in the induction and development high blood pressure in both men and women, it is important that you do handle the symptoms to successfully handle the condition effectively.
Owing to the reason that the condition of hypertension has the capability of inducing a plethora of health issues unknowingly, it can influence the mental health for the worse. So, ensure that you handle the levels of the blood pressure for overall better health.
The side effects of hypertension are abundant and leaving the condition untreated does have the potential of inflicting a plethora of other health conditions which can easily be avoided if the symptoms are handled accordingly. Consult a doctor if required and then proceed along with the same. In here, we have mentioned some of the common complications of hypertension to help you know the consequences.
