Author: Huang Gang (Chengdu Second People's Hospital)
For people who do not have high blood pressure, it is especially important to actively prevent high blood pressure. People who have already suffered from high blood pressure should minimize the harm of high blood pressure, that is, to prevent complications.
If the condition of hypertensive patients is not well controlled, it can cause a variety of serious complications, mainly concentrated in the heart, brain, kidneys and blood vessels.
· The heart is the "engine" of the human body, and the damage of hypertension to the heart mainly leads to an increase in the load on the heart, which then causes the heart to enlarge, and finally heart failure, in addition to damage to the coronary arteries, coronary heart disease, etc.;
· For the brain, mainly cerebral arteriosclerosis, stenosis, rupture, leading to cerebral hemorrhage or cerebral infarction;
· For the kidneys, it is manifested by renal fibrosis and renal failure;
· Damage to blood vessels can lead to systemic arteriosclerosis, aneurysms, arterial dissection, etc.
How can these complications be effectively prevented? The following recommendations are available.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Establish and maintain a healthy lifestyle
An unhealthy lifestyle not only affects blood pressure control, but is itself an independent risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases, such as smoking and alcoholism, lack of physical exercise, high-fat and high-salt diet, staying up late or overworking.
The cardiovascular effects of an unhealthy lifestyle are "quiet" and cumulative, and are easy to ignore. If lifestyle improvements are neglected, medication will be greatly reduced and blood pressure will not be well controlled.
And even when blood pressure is controlled with medications, patients still face a high risk of cardiovascular disease.
Second, actively and stably control blood pressure
Blood pressure control in patients with hypertension is not up to standard (too high), fluctuates too much, or fluctuates too frequently, which will further aggravate the damage to target organs such as the heart, brain, kidneys, and blood vessels.
Why? For example, if the water pressure of household water is unstable, the residents on the high floor will encounter the situation of water for a while and no water for a while, which will affect life;
If the water pressure is too high for a long time, the water pipe will "burst the pipe" due to the excessive pressure for a long time, and the service life will be shortened.
Therefore, excessive blood pressure or frequent fluctuations will aggravate the damage to blood vessels, while leading to unstable blood supply to important organs, "sometimes and sometimes", aggravating organ damage.
Therefore, patients with hypertension should actively and stably control blood pressure under the guidance of doctors, and try to reduce blood pressure as much as possible to "meet the standard".
3. Actively treat other diseases that are combined
Many patients with hypertension suffer from diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, hyperhomocysteinemia, etc. Basically, these diseases and hypertension are "in cahoots", cooperating with each other to damage our bodies, if we do not pay attention to the treatment and control of these diseases, patients will fall into the situation of "leaking in the house and raining overnight".
If patients with hypertension neglect the control and management of these concomitant diseases, blood pressure is less likely to be controlled than those with concomitant disease control, and complications appear earlier and more seriously.
In summary, the harm of hypertension to the human body is far from only the "increase in blood pressure" itself, but more serious is the chronic damage of the target organs caused by the increase in blood pressure, which is a variety of complications caused by hypertension.
After the diagnosis of hypertension, it is necessary to adopt a healthy lifestyle, control blood pressure standards, actively intervene in concomitant diseases and other risk factors, etc., so as to minimize the risks they face.
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
*The copyright of this article belongs to Tencent Medical Code, unauthorized media reprinting is prohibited, and illegal reprinting will be investigated for legal responsibility according to law. Individuals are welcome to forward to the circle of friends.