It is well known that high blood pressure can be a serious problem, but many people are completely unaware of the correlation between increased blood pressure and volume. Fortunately, there are some facts about increased blood pressure and volume that may actually make your life better! Here is a list of seven facts about increased blood pressure and volume. How do the following stimuli affect water and sodium (na+) reabsorption in the kidneys? If a person is dehydrated, what happens to the kidneys? What exactly is hypertension? Can anyone tell me the effects of high blood on the body?
7 Facts About Increased Blood Pressure And Volume That Will Actually Make Your Life Better :
1. Some people gain weight because their blood pressure is high.
If you’ve been looking for a reason why your blood pressure may be high, how about the fact that it can actually cause you to gain weight? Blood pressure affects the kidneys, and the kidneys affect how much fluid is in your body. Therefore, if your blood pressure is high, your body will retain more water. Essentially, this means that you’ll have a higher body weight due to an increased amount of water in your system. Contributing factors for retaining too much volume include stress, alcohol consumption and medications (especially diuretics).
2. Blood pressure is one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
Blood pressure is a sign that your body can no longer maintain water balance. At the same time, high blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Fortunately, knowing that high blood pressure may be a contributing factor to many different diseases can help you to take effective steps to lower, or perhaps even eliminate it. However, all too often people try to combat high blood pressure with medications; and at best, these drugs only mask the problem by making it feel better but not actually helping it go away. So, the question is not just, “how do I lower my blood pressure?” but “how can I avoid hypertension in the first place?”
3. The kidneys are a big contributor to high blood pressure.
As stated above, the kidneys retain water and sodium (na+). This has a direct correlation with high blood pressure. So, if your body is retaining too much fluid and sodium, there will be an increase in your blood pressure. This can lead to heart attacks and strokes as well as kidney problems. The good news is that these problems are easily preventable through minimizing fluid intake and increasing hydration.
4. Drinking water can reduce your blood pressure.
Yes, simply drinking water can help to reduce your blood pressure! This is the good news that you’ve been waiting for; because it means that you don’t need to take medications or undergo expensive treatments to manage high blood pressure. You simply need to drink more water!
By increasing your hydration, your blood vessels expand and cause a drop in blood pressure. This is due to the fact that water contains no sodium, which causes the body to retain too much fluid and sodium which causes hypertension. Fruits and vegetables are also effective at lowering both high and low blood pressure through their antioxidant content.
5. Stress increases your risk of high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can be a direct result of stress on the body. When we’re stressed out, our bodies produce the hormone cortisol, which acts on the adrenal glands (located above each kidney) to cause them to increase water retention. Therefore, as your body retains more fluid and sodium due to stress, you will experience an increase in blood pressure.
6. Alcohol can also contribute to high blood pressure.
The same way that stress can cause high blood pressure, alcohol consumption can also contribute to it. Alcohol acts on the liver by reducing the amount of sodium and water it releases into your bloodstream. This causes a retention of both sodium and water which increases blood pressure, thereby increasing the risk of hypertension.
7. Medications used to treat hypertension may cause damage to kidneys.
There are several medications that are used often to treat high blood pressure (e.g., beta-blockers, diuretics) known as anti-hypertensive drugs or ‘blood pressure pills. Medications such as these are used to control elevated blood pressure, but can actually cause serious damage to the kidneys. When you increase your blood pressure by a certain amount, the kidneys effectively lose their ability to retain water and increase sodium. So, it is possible that anti-hypertensive medications can cause increased volume and subsequent hypertension if prescribed improperly or continued for a long period of time.
