Ah, blood pressure. It goes up and down and can be directly related to how someone feels. It’s considered one of three vital signs when you go to the doctor because, heh, without blood pressure they have a special place in the bottom of a hospital just for you. And…it’s not desirable real estate. So, what is blood pressure, how does it work, and why do you need it? With any luck, I can cogently tell you in under 1000 words.
Blood pressure is defined by WebMD as “the measure of the force of blood pushing against blood vessel walls.” It’s measured with two numbers: the systolic and diastolic measurement. The first number, systolic, measures the pressure in the arteries during heartbeats. And, knowing that, you can guess that the bottom number, diastolic, is the measure of blood pressure between beats. Interestingly, the top number is higher than the bottom number. Can you guess why?
To figure it out, one really can logic this one without having to ‘science the **** out of it’ as Matt Damon is quoted saying in The Martian. What is happening when the blood is being pushed through the veins? Well, that is the systolic reading and you can envision the heart pushing blood via contractions inside the atrial cavities. In order to ‘push’ something suggests more pressure and thus the higher number. Between beats, the diastolic reading, is always less pressure which makes sense since because the heart is ‘resting’ between beats, as in, not actively pushing.
There are a number of things you can do to yourself, or other people can do to you, that effects your blood pressure. Emotions, what you eat, emotions while you are eating, emotions while you are not eating for several days, and especially noteworthy are your emotions tied to what you ate over time. That will pretty much dictate what kind of shape your heart is in if you’re lucky enough to join the ranks of octogenarians everywhere.
Hopefully you get to join their club. They’ve got t-shirts.
Let’s start with your emotions. Emotions are a psychological phenomenon due to physical causation. What your heart feels is a direct result of why your brain makes it hurt. Specifically, when you fear, feel sad, depressed, lonely, or any of those other generally unhappy emotions, your body releases hormones that stress the arteries and encourages your heart to beat faster. Your hands clench, your muscles (of which your heart is one) get a nice shot of adrenaline among other hormones, and your pores begin to sweat. Think of it as pushing the gas petal to the floor, then braking, then pushing it hard again just for the fun of it, then braking.
And, as much fun as some people have torturing themselves, the other passengers in the ongoing car chase called your life don’t appreciate the ride. To complete the analogy, your heart doesn’t appreciate the abuse your id puts it through because your superego is a woos and your ego can’t get you to get your life together. In short, over time, your heart works too hard because of you.
But, stress alone typically isn’t what causes the heart damage, or at least scientists don’t seem to think so yet. It is the habits that develop with the stress that do the worst damage. It’s the overeating, the potential drug and alcohol abuse from self-medicating because you just can’t figure out why you feel bad, or the lack of eating properly at all just because you can. That donut you ate for breakfast each morning for the last ten years coupled with the honey buns for lunch and the cheeseburger for dinner didn’t do you any favors. Cholesterol has collected in your arteries over time and is just a ticking time bomb waiting to break off and cause blockages via the process of thrombosis (a whole ‘nother essay).
Our body is a walking biology project that, despite it being directly impacted by how you experiment on it daily, won’t net you an A in any class if you tried to turn yourself in. But on the other hand, what you do to it through diet definitely shows up on your skin, and in an electrocardiogram (ECG) when that uncomfortable pressure in your chest starts to feel chronically sore. Is it another panic attack? Or, have you finally scarred your heart so much it doesn’t want to hang out with you anymore?
Typically, a heart is an incredibly strong organ and doesn’t give up just because you hit a rough patch. Systolic and diastolic readings go up and down all the time during the day. Sometimes it is because you are experiencing short term pain. That’s normal and not a problem over time. Normal blood pressure varies for everyone, but should be in the neighborhood of 120/80 (heart.org). Higher blood pressure is normal during sustained increased activity. That’s not a problem either, and in fact a good thing to strengthen the heart muscle as you might abs for that swimsuit you’d like to fit into this summer.
The heart’s sinoatrial node is the natural pacemaker, and its function is backed up by the heart itself (albeit very badly) and the atrioventricular node. See below for this amazing picture of what drives your heart to beat. Add a little electricity to this pathway, and you don’t just get blood pressure, you get life!
Bradycardia, (a too slow heartbeat below 60 bpm) and tachycardia (a too fast heartbeat above 100 bpms) directly affect blood pressure as well. Chronic atrial and ventrical fibrillations can cause fluctuations in blood pressure that ultimately can lead to death if you don’t take care of it via medications like warfarin, a blood thinner and also a low dose of rat poison. Frequently, illnesses that result in too high or too low irregular heartbeats are congenital in nature, and not the patient’s fault. It’s just one more way God lets us know he’s in charge, and we need to pray because he hears us.
Prayer, I’ve found, actually does work especially well, when you know someone with a heart condition. I’m pretty sure he heard me when I prayed for my grandmother. Sadly, the answer eventually was no. But then, she didn’t stop smoking and lay off the prescription pain pills so I blame her.
You are accountable for you, and what happens to your body. That’s a rough way to put it. But, it’s the truth. You have to take care of your heart if you want it to take care of you. Being heart healthy isn’t difficult if you were born with a good one, and the way to be healthy isn’t the message you find on the back of a cereal box. Take a chill pill. Avoid stress. Love yourself. And figure out what a vegetable is now and then. And one more thing. Even if the state of Colorado legalizes every drug known to man, be smart. Stay away from that stuff. It won’t kill you if you smoke it…your heart will.
Sources:
"Causes of High Blood Pressure: Weight, Diet, Age, and More." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
"Understanding Blood Pressure Readings." Understanding Blood Pressure Readings. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
"Why Use Blood Thinners To Kill Rats." AskDrLouisecom. N.p., 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Images:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinoatrial_node#/media/File:ConductionsystemoftheheartwithouttheHeart-en.svg
