Hypertension and Obesity

What is Hypertension?

Hypertension or the high blood pressure refers to the pressure that the amount of blood the heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in the arteries blood applies. Most people with high blood pressure generally have no signs or any symptoms, even if blood pressure readings reach dangerously high levels.

Hypertension and Obesity

The most important issue to remember is that obesity is associated with hypertension, and hypertension is associated with numerous other metabolic diseases that can affect the overall health and the life expectancy of an individual. Anti-hypertension medications should be started if hypertension is diagnosed along with weight-loss. A significant fall in blood pressure may permit a decrease in the number and the amount of medication taken. Prevention by maintaining a good lifestyle would be better than any drug.

Use lifestyle changes with weight reduction by maintaining BMI, DASH diet by eating fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products with reduced content of saturated and total fat, a decrease in dietary sodium, an increase in physical activity for about 30 minutes per day and moderate consumption of alcohol. The weight-loss is the most important step in reducing both hypertension and improving a better and healthy life.

Obesity-related hypertension often is accompanied by:

Organ damage can be done by obesity hypertension. The elevated blood pressure due to obesity can cause long-term damage to the body's vital organs and their functions.

Diastolic dysfunction is evident early in obesity and characterized by impaired ventricular filling dynamics and relaxation and there may also be systolic dysfunction and an enlarged heart with prolonged obesity. Obesity and hypertension worsen the symptoms of left ventricular hypertrophy in a synergistic manner, and this translates into a greater risk of congestive heart failure. The weight loss improves systolic and diastolic function and reduces left ventricular mass.

There is a potential association between obesity hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea. Obesity is an important risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea but this may be more closely associated with the enlarged abdomen than overall body obesity. Obstructive sleep apnea has been linked to hypertension in both epidemiological studies and clinical.

Complications leading to uncontrolled high blood pressure include:

Heart attack or stroke:  High blood pressure can cause hardening and thickening of the arteries known as atherosclerosis, which can lead to a heart attack, stroke or various other complications.

Aneurysm: The increased blood pressure can cause blood vessels to bulge and weaken, forming an aneurysm. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can be life-threatening.

Heart failure: To pump blood against the higher pressure in the vessels, the heart has to work harder by causing the walls of the heart's pumping chamber to thicken known as the left ventricular hypertrophy. Eventually, the thickened muscle may have a hard time pumping enough blood, which later can lead to heart failure.

Weakened and narrowed blood vessels in the kidneys can prevent these organs from functioning normally.

In the eyes causes thickening, narrowing or torn blood vessels which can result in vision loss.

Metabolic syndrome: This syndrome is a cluster of disorders from the body's metabolism, including increased waist circumference; high triglycerides; low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol; high blood pressure and high insulin levels. These conditions will likely later develop diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

The uncontrolled high blood pressure affects the ability to remember, think and learn and further cause’s trouble with memory or understanding concepts is more common in people with high blood pressure.

Dementia:  Narrowed or blocked arteries can limit blood flow to the brain, leading to a certain type of dementia known as vascular dementia. A stroke interrupts the blood flow to the brain which also causes vascular dementia.