More than a third of the world's population suffers from high blood pressure, popularly called hypertension. However, only half of them seek qualified help. Meanwhile, such an insidious disease for a long time may not be manifested by any symptoms and significantly increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The number of people affected by this pathology is constantly increasing and can often be found even in children.
What causes hypertension in humans
One of the main causes of this ailment is the nervous system. Subjected to psycho-emotional stress, people suffer from this pathology much more often. Increased vascular tone, provoked by a stressful situation, can lead to an increase in blood pressure.
The presence of atherosclerotic plaques and sclerosis of arteries can also provoke the appearance of hypertension. In this case, the lumen of the walls of the vessels becomes narrower, and normal blood circulation is impossible. The heart begins to work more intensively, and increased pressure is created in the vessels.
The risk of hypertension is increased in overweight people, atherosclerosis is an additional factor in the disease. Also, such a pathology is provoked by a metabolic disorder and normal blood supply to the kidneys, a malfunction of the internal organs and nervous system functions, and a high content of potassium and calcium in the blood.
With a hereditary location, blood pressure remains at high levels for much longer than other people. The presence of such addictions as the use of narcotic and psychotropic drugs, alcohol, and tobacco smoking is also negatively affected.
In the absence of proper attention to their health, the cause of hypertension can be elementary wear of the body. Also, the use of anti-inflammatory drugs and medications on an ongoing basis to reduce appetite, glucocorticoids, and oral contraceptives can be attributed to negative factors.
People who live far from cities, who do not understand the political and economic situation in the country and who do not receive information from the media, practically do not suffer from increased pressure.
Types of hypertension and their stages
In its course, this ailment is divided into a slowly developing, benign type and malignant. The first, in turn, is classified into three stages.
Unstable and judicial signs, which quickly pass and arise easily, have hypertension of 1 degree. Here, mainly functional disorders of the nervous system, such as irritability, headaches, and a decrease in mental performance, take place. Sometimes any symptoms are completely absent.
The increase in pressure is unstable and, as a rule, is detected by chance after emotional overload. It comes back to normal and is usually kept without medication as the nervous system calms down.
Organic organ damage with grade 1 hypertension is not observed. Deviations from the norm in the work of the heart or changes in the fundus are also not detected. Diagnosis here is not difficult and comes down to measuring pressure.
The most pronounced clinical picture characterizes the second degree of hypertension. Symptoms such as sleep and workability, headaches and dizziness, and heart pain are present. There are cases of spontaneous pressure drop that does not reach the norm. These deviations go away only after the use of medicines.
Quite often, at this stage, a hypertensive crisis appears, the concentration ability of the kidneys decreases and the blood circulation of the brain is impaired. This stage of the disease can be recognized by examining the fundus.
Steady high pressure is characteristic for the third degree of hypertension. With it, complications from the fundus, kidneys, heart and brain begin to develop. The likelihood of a hypertensive crisis becomes much higher. Cases of fatal outcome are frequent.
The main objectives of disease prevention
Today there is a rapid increase in patients with hypertension. This disease has significantly rejuvenated recently, not sparing even teenagers. Many parents wonder, “What is the cause of juvenile hypertension?” Most likely, such a pathology occurs due to malnutrition, heredity and a significant decrease in physical activity. In addition, the environment has deteriorated significantly. Some factors can not be changed by a person, it is possible to significantly reduce the adverse effect on the body of hypertension by following the recommendations for its prevention. Therefore, the main task to prevent the disease is primarily to prevent the appearance and development of the disease. If he has already shown himself, then it is necessary to ease the symptoms. Well, and, of course, prevent the occurrence and development of complications.
Primary prevention
The causes of hypertension in young people can be eliminated by timely preventive measures. Specialist consultation and timely help improve blood circulation and keep vascular tissue in good shape. First of all, it is necessary to abandon the use of alcoholic beverages, and if necessary, eliminate the pathology of blood vessels, kidneys and heart.
You should also significantly reduce the use of salt (not more than five grams per day) and stop smoking. Physical education and the fight against extra pounds will also improve health. The diet should be low-fat and low-carb foods rich in potassium, calcium and magnesium. It is necessary to normalize the mode of rest and work, as well as avoid stressful situations.
Secondary prevention
If the diagnosis is made accurately, then the causes of hypertension can be eliminated with the help of secondary prevention. Such measures are intended to prevent the development of complications. Along with non-drug measures, drug therapy is prescribed to prevent pressure surges. A habit of people suffering from this pathology should be a constant measurement of pressure and observation by doctors.
Prevention in old age
A very important task is to eliminate the causes of hypertension in the elderly. In the event that the pressure is not controlled, then in almost all cases a stroke develops and the situation reaches a fatal outcome.
First of all, representatives of this age category must change the lifestyle, which consists in a complete rest and a strict diet, as well as the mandatory correction of medicines intended for the treatment of concomitant pathologies.
Aging of the body, as a rule, leads to a decrease in cardiac output, hypertrophy of the walls of blood vessels and impaired blood circulation, and the work of the heart and kidneys changes.
Drugs for drug therapy
The specialist, as a rule, prescribes drugs to eliminate the main causes of hypertension in accordance with the stage of the pathological process. Typically, these medicines, taken once or twice a day, have a prolonged effect and should be taken continuously. After all, refusal of such therapy can lead to irreparable consequences. In medical practice, first-line and second-line drugs are used. The latter are used only when first-line drugs cease to help the patient.
Diet with high blood pressure
In the presence of this ailment, a properly composed diet is necessary. Specialists who have observed their patients have come to the conclusion that a proper diet and well-chosen foods help to effectively control blood pressure. Reducing to a minimum level of consumption of ordinary table salt helps to reduce cholesterol.
To eliminate the causes of hypertension, products such as fatty meats and steaming broths based on them, lard and offal, various pastries and creams in them, cocoa and its products, tea, coffee and alcohol, as well as savory and savory foods are strictly prohibited. The exception here does not apply to oily sea fish. Such restrictions have a beneficial effect on the removal of fluid from the patient's body. Nutrition with this pathology should saturate his body with all the important trace elements, vitamins and minerals.
Instead of heavy animal food, you need to eat more fiber-rich vegetables, cereals, nuts and fruits. The most non-nutritive and no later than two hours before bedtime should be the last meal.
To improve the taste of food, you can use lemon, cinnamon, cranberries, dill. You can drink natural fruit and berry juices, eat prunes and candied fruits, and baking salt-free bread, you can add caraway seeds or yogurt to the dough.
Ambiguous among doctors is the attitude to therapeutic fasting, as it can lead to a loss of strength and attacks of weakness due to a lack of nutrients. In addition, the lack of food provokes the formation of toxic substances, ketones, which disrupt the functioning of the kidneys. The way out of fasting should be extremely careful. Therefore, in order to prevent arterial hypertension, you can afford only a few fasting days.
Folk remedies
The use of traditional medicine is very useful and effective in the initial stage of the disease. And in combination with physical education and diet gives a lasting positive result. Beekeeping products, decoctions and infusions from herbs have diuretic and sedative properties, and also act as antispasmodics. The use of such treatment is long, but the effect of it is more stable. The best folk remedies for hypertension have already been tested by time and have proven their effectiveness:
- Half a glass of beetroot and the same amount of lemon juice must be mixed by adding a glass of linden honey, and consumed one hour after eating a third of the glass.
- Every morning, you should take about ten drops of tincture of hawthorn flowers and eat a glass of cranberries.
- One hundred grams of marsh marshmallow should be mixed with four glasses of beet juice and honey, add half a liter of vodka to them, mix everything. Insist the resulting mixture in a tightly closed container in a cool and dark place for about ten days, then use it three times a day half an hour before a meal, one or two tablespoons.
- How to treat the psychosomatic causes of hypertension? To do this, just mix a spoonful of honey and the juice of half a lemon, and dissolve in a glass of mineral water, and drink the drug on an empty stomach in one go, continuing the treatment for ten days.
- In equal proportions, mix the juice of hawthorn and beetroot and take three tablespoons one tablespoon each. But here it should be remembered that freshly squeezed beet juice can not be taken. Before use, it must be infused for at least three hours.
If you often eat baked potatoes in a “uniform”, then it also helps to reduce pressure. A small onion and a small clove of garlic eat the same effect. Black currants and lingonberries will help to remove swelling, if you eat fresh berries during the season, and in winter they are also made from fruit compotes.
Hypertension in women
In the representatives of the weaker sex, the signs of this pathology are expressed much brighter than in men. Very often, this ailment is diagnosed in menopausal women and pregnant women. Their illness is more severe and the pressure indicators are much higher, and the headaches are stronger.
As a result, complications such as obesity, varicose veins, diabetes mellitus, metabolic disorders appear. If hypertension is uncontrollable, then the size of the heart becomes larger, and the walls of the vessels become stiff. As a result, strokes and coronary artery disease develop.
For greater treatment effectiveness, timely detection of symptoms of pathology is necessary. At the first stage, the patient experiences pain in the occipital and temporal parts of the head, as well as increased sweating and fatigue, shortness of breath, decreased hunger, pale or reddened face, visual disturbances, nosebleeds. And in adulthood, the fairer sex experience nausea and vomiting. The first thing to do if you have these symptoms is to measure the pressure.
The second stage of hypertension is characterized by dizziness, vomiting, and nausea. The fingers are numb and trembling, and there is severe constricting pain in the occipital part and temples. In the morning, the face and eyelids become swollen. If you ignore such signs, then complications appear in the form of acute and stitching pain in the heart, moving to the left hand, sleep disturbance, anxiety.
With a third degree of pathology, the symptoms become stronger and brighter. Pain in the head begins unexpectedly and quickly intensifies. Pressure indicators can increase significantly, reaching maximum marks. A pressing and aching pain appears in the heart, and breathing becomes frequent and superficial. Fainting and muscle cramps can also occur. These symptoms indicate that a stroke or heart attack is approaching the patient.