Hypertension

[tarak]

I would like to understand more on the genesis of Hypertension in young individuals triggered by lifestyle and psychological reasons that shape up a personality.

Can the condition of extreme hypertension occur in young individuals (25-35) because they donot achieve their dreams or donot come to terms with their present state of existence in relation to their past and future???

[CraigD]

Can the condition of extreme hypertension occur in young individuals (25-35) because they donot achieve their dreams or donot come to terms with their present state of existence in relation to their past and future???

It’s hard to precisely translate “not achieving dreams” into medical diagnostic language, but I’d guess at a translation of “stress” and/or “depression”. Your question, then, becomes “can stress and/or depression cause hypertension?”

 

A short answer is “yes.” A prudent answer is “yes, but likely not.”

 

A longer answer requires some explanation, for which we have to briefly review the physiology of blood pressure.

 

First, let’s define “blood pressure”: it’s the measure of the pressure exerted on the walls of one arteries – the vessels through which blood flows from the heart to the rest of the body. Although this pressure actually varies constantly over time and with the location at which its measured, it’s conventional to measure it maximum and minimum values at the brachial artery in the upper arm, giving 2 values (eg: 120/80).

 

Next, let’s consider the mechanical causes of blood pressure. The heart muscle contract, forcing blood into the arteries. Without something blocking the flow of blood, there’d be very little pressure. Hydrodynamic friction alone accounts for some of this blocking, but the main cause of it is a system of thousands of small, strong, ring-shaped muscles called arterioles, which work like clamps on hoses. They’re controlled by a complicated and only partially understood chemical system, which most of the time works very well. When it doesn’t, high or low blood pressure, persisting for a short or long time, results.

 

Low blood pressure, known as shock, can occur due to an injury, infection, or neurochemical imbalance, and can be deadly.

 

High blood pressure has many causes. It occurs naturally in response to stress, and is beneficial in assuring a supply of blood to the brain and other important organs by clamping the arterioles, restricting blood flow to the extremeties. This effect is short term, ending when the stress stops. Drug side-effects can cause it. Diet, particularly the unusual intake of sodium and potassium, can. And, since the whole complicated system is coded in ones genome, genes effect it.

 

Unlike shock, short “spikes” of high blood pressure are rarely deadly, although they can cause serious damage to the brain, eyes, and other vascularly fragile tissues.

 

Psychological depression is associated with shortages and excesses of key neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine. These chemicals interact directly and indirectly with they system that regulates the arterioles. So, while only a conjecture, it’s reasonable to suspect that depression – “not achieving ones dreams” – could cause hypertension.

 

Genetic predispositions, poor diet, and lack of exercise are more likely causes, though.

 

Medicine and pharmacology have made great advances over the past few decades in the treatment of both hypertension and depression. What feels like failed dreams and existential angst may actually be neurochemical imbalances, possibly due to genetic factors. Effective treatment may allow one to better pursue ones dreams, and come to terms with ones state of existence.

[tarak]

Thank you Craig for that elaborate and a clear explaination on HT.Now I got the right word...I was infact interested in this psychosomatic component of HT...Is there a method to delineate this bundle of causes with those of other causes like overweight,genetic factors and diet.

Another doubt is how long HT can be persistent in an individual.it is generaly prescribed that once an individual is detected with HT ,he has to be on medication for a lifetime..Anyway HT genes must be a huge QTL on the human genome map ....

[lazo.alex]

To complement some of the information posted by CraigD, there are 2 types of hypertension. You can have hypertension detected in the sistolic pressure(maximum) or hypertension detected in the diastolic pressure (minimum). As CraigD said, there are 2 values, e.g 120/80 which is a healthy value. The sistolic is when the heart pumps the blood, and the diastolic is the returning pressure.

 

The sistolic pressure is the one that rises the most, it rises with: when digesting, doing exercise, age, high cholesterol, too much salt in blood, diabetes, even emotional changes can make the sistolic pressure rise, my grandmother has 180 of sistolic and she feels fine, when she is angry she rises to 220! and when she wakes up in the mornings she is down to 160, incredible! The problem comes when the diastolic pressure is high. It will have long-term effects, and probably need help, its caused by diseases and other serious factors. Thanks God my grandma's diastolic pressure stays around 60 (old people diastolic pressure tends to be lower).

 

But dont be fooled by mild hipertension problems like my grandma's, even though you feel fine, hypertension, here in Peru is called invisible public enemy number 1. You can feel just fine for years, and then it strikes. Having high pressure also indicates that you might not live much, and it cannot be cured, i know my grandma wont last longer than other old people with less hypertension issues.

 

One last note: if having hypertension in the diastolic means trouble, having hypotension in the sistolic means quick death.