What exactly is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is a measure of the force exerted against the artery walls by the blood. It is expressed as a larger number over a smaller one, like 120/80, reflecting the maximum force exerted during heartbeats and then the minimum pressure between heartbeats.
Although a single blood pressure reading is useful, it can be even more valuable to take the blood pressure in both arms and while both standing and lying down; any discrepancies provide important diagnostic clues.
What is high blood pressure, and why is it important?
High blood pressure is also called hypertension.
If the blood vessel walls are narrowed due to fatty deposits made up of calcium and cholesterol , blood pressure goes up, much the same as pinching a hose increases water pressure
The increased pressure of blood going through the arteries can cause stretching, weakness, and scarring of the blood vessel walls. Such blood vessel weakness can create an aneurism, a ballooning of part of the artery that can rupture, with potentially fatal results. Scarring can harden the arteries, called arteriosclerosis, leading to increased risk for heart attack and stroke. High blood pressure limits blood flow, so essential organs might get less blood than needed to function optimally.
Blood pressure should ideally be under 120/80; those with a blood pressure over 140/90 have four times the risk of heart disease. However, we can’t assume that the high blood pressure is the cause of the higher heart disease risk. It is more likely that inflammation is the cause of both conditions.
What causes high blood pressure?
Inflammation from toxins, metals, allergic reactions, irritants such as smoking or alcohol, sugar, or microorganisms can cause lesions and scarring on the insides of blood vessels. Cholesterol, made by the body, tries to patch these sores and ends up worsening the problem by narrowing the blood vessels, driving the blood pressure up.
Some drugs, such as caffeine, nicotine as from smoking, and stimulant medications can raise blood pressure, as can habitual alcohol use. Mercury, found in metal dental fillings, constricts blood vessels. Blood pressure can normalize without medication within days of getting metal fillings removed properly, especially if the metal in the body is chelated out.
High blood pressure is linked to overweight because the heart has to work harder to supply nutrients and oxygen to a greater body mass. Weight loss usually correlates with a drop in blood pressure, although the improved diet that leads to the weight loss also has a beneficial effect.
Sugar can do as much to raise blood pressure as can the more widely publicized salt. Sugar can disrupt insulin, which helps to regulate blood pressure. Sugar can also cause a rise in cholesterol and triglycerides, which in turn can narrow and block blood vessels.
What about salt?
The connection between salt and blood pressure isn’t necessarily what you might think. Conventional wisdom says that salt raises blood pressure, and a bland, nearly salt-free diet is the key to dropping it back down.
On the surface, the connection makes sense. When more salt is eaten, more water is retained to dilute the salt. More water in the blood translates to more pressure against the arterial walls, just as opening up the outdoor faucet more means more pressure against the walls of the attached hose. The heart has to pump harder to push this blood through the blood vessels, which could lead, after many years, to heart failure.
However, not everyone is salt-sensitive in this way, yet the advice to cut down on salt is given to nearly everyone. Normotensive people – those with blood pressure in the normal range – find that salt rarely affects their blood pressure, and yet they are often told to limit salt to prevent future problems. Many people with hypertension are salt-sensitive, but many others aren’t.
It is fairly well known that too much sodium can cause water retention and raise blood pressure, but few people realize that too little sodium can have the same effect. There have been people who have high blood pressure and have been adhering strictly to a low-salt diet with little effect, and their blood pressure normalizes once they heed the advice of an alert practitioner and increase their salt intake.
Not only are people not the same in their reactivity to salt, but all salt is not the same either. Nearly all salt used in blood pressure studies is the pure-white commercial stuff with the minerals stripped out and other ingredients added to keep it flowing freely. This is the same salt most people and processed food manufacturers use in their food. But a good quality salt can make a big difference; these include Real Salt (brand name), sea salt, mineral salt, and Himalayan pink salt; these can be gray, brown, or pink due to other minerals. Switching to these salts, even if the amount eaten is unchanged, can make a positive difference. Unrefined salt can be used by the body to raise or lower blood pressure as needed.
Is there such a thing as too-low blood pressure?
Yes, there is such a thing as too-low blood pressure, which is more likely to be an issue for women. Although high blood pressure gets the most press, low blood pressure is a sign that arterial walls and tissue are weak, allowing them to be distended and preventing strong circulation.
Low blood pressure can be a symptom of hypothyroidism, or can be an effect of some medications. It is fairly common in those with chronic fatigue.
Symptoms of low blood pressure include dizziness, especially upon standing; fatigue, trouble concentrating, blurred vision, and depression.
What can be done about abnormal blood pressure?
As with all less than optimal health situations, the key is to look at the cause of the high (or low) blood pressure and take care of that, rather than prescribing medication or a one-size-fits-all very low salt diet. And abnormally low blood pressure needs to be looked at as well, not just dismissed when most of the focus is on high blood pressure.
Diet and minerals can help. Potassium can help reduce blood pressure by balancing out the sodium in the blood. Magnesium helps to lower blood pressure, probably by relaxing the muscular outer layer of blood vessels and increasing their diameter, since it’s a muscle relaxant in general. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils and flax oil can significantly lower blood pressure, as can garlic.
