Keeping your blood pressure low, although within normal limits, can go a long way in preventing cardiovascular disease. To do it, it is advisable to incorporate healthy habits and maintain medical supervision in case of related pathology.
Next, We explain how blood pressure works and how the body has its own processes of trying to lower it when it’s too high. In this way you will be able to become aware of the seriousness of the problem if it is not prevented and treated adequately.
Control and keep blood pressure low
The body has a large number of compensatory mechanisms designed for maintain blood flow pressure within a range. Both high and too low blood pressure values ​​can cause serious problems in the body.
- When blood pressure is too high (hypertension), various injuries to the circulatory system can occur. For example, widening, laceration or even rupture of the vessels.
- On the other hand, when blood pressure is too low (hypotension) the heart may not be able to pump enough blood. This This would cause the right amount of nutrients and oxygen not to reach the tissues.
Compensatory mechanisms
There are several compensatory mechanisms designed to keep blood pressure constant. Among these, we find:
- cardiac output.
- Regulation of the diameter of blood vessels.
- The volume of blood contained in blood vessels.
blood volume
The mechanisms that regulate the blood volume in the body are performed, in particular, by the excretory system. And, more especially, from the kidneys. The kidneys can regulate the amount of fluid excreted in the urine. This increases or decreases blood volume.
a greater blood volume increase the amount of blood that needs to be pumped out of the heart and contained by vessels. This will raise your blood pressure. However, the decrease in blood volume has the opposite effect: it lowers blood pressure.
The diameter of the blood vessels
The diameter of blood vessels is a highly regulated process. This causes a direct effect on blood pressure. A dilation of blood vessels makes these may contain a larger amount of blood. In this way the amount of blood that will return to the heart will be less and the blood pressure will decrease.
On the contrary, a contraction of the veins and arteries will cause greater resistance to the passage of blood flow. It will also cause less blood retention in them. Therefore, a greater volume will be returned to the heart and it will do it with more force, thus increasing blood pressure.
cardiac output
cardiac output is a parameter that refers to the amount of blood pumped out of the heart with each beat. This cardiac output is regulated. Also, it varies depending on the state of the organism and the existing blood pressure.
As, the higher the cardiac output, the higher the blood pressure. This happens because the heart’s contractions are stronger and it pumps blood at a higher pressure.
Conversely, if cardiac output decreases and contractions become weaker, blood is not pumped as forcefully. Hence, blood pressure drops.
heart damage
Sometimes blood pressure remains consistently elevated. AS, the circulatory system always activates compensatory mechanisms. And these end up causing cardiovascular conditions.
This happens because high blood pressure causes a marked increase in the workload of the heart. This has to pump more forcefully, when a large amount of back blood and high pressure reaches it. As a result, the heart thickens and becomes larger (hypertrophy) and its walls become stiffer.
This increased stiffness prevents the heart from expanding properly. This increases your workload. This can lead to heart failure. Then the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s demands.
Injury to blood vessels and arteries
Compensatory mechanisms related to the diameter of the blood vessels can also cause damage to the vessels. The continuing causes of high blood pressure the arteries thicken and harden.
hardening of the arteries can end up causing arteriosclerosis. This, over time, can lead to partial or total blockage of these vessels. This would cause serious cardiovascular problems such as stroke, heart attack or aneurysm.
Keeping low blood pressure under control is good
In short, all these problems derived from increased cardiac load can be prevented. Because of this, we need to keep blood pressure low. However, one should not forget that these values ​​\u200b\u200bmust be within certain ranges. Excessive low blood pressure can also end up causing serious conditions.
Maintain good lifestyle habits e good blood pressure control will help avoid complications and serious health problems both short and long term. In this sense, it is necessary to follow the doctor’s instructions in the treatment of any pathology related to arterial health.
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