Dangers of High Blood Pressure: Here’s what high blood pressure can do to your body if not treated

High Blood Pressure or Hypertension is a condition where the force of your blood pushing against the blood vessels is too high. Since this is a silent condition, it can cause damage to your body before symptoms become obvious. Treating high blood pressure is important or you may face serious complications. By adapting healthy living habits and taking proper medications to keep your blood pressure normal, you may prevent the risks to your body.

Here’s what high blood pressure can do to your body if not treated:

Damaged Arteries

Arteries are the vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. They have a smooth inner lining. They’re strong and flexible enough to push blood through the body.

In case of high blood pressure, the blood pushes against the walls of the artery with increased force which can damage the cells on the inside walls of the arteries. This causes the fatty bits also known as plaque to get caught and build up. These clogs block the movement of blood and can even block arteries.

This can eventually lead to heart attack and stroke.

Risks of High Blood Pressure

Damaged Brain

Your brain is one of the most crucial organs of the body. It needs a healthy supply of oxygen-rich blood to function.

High Blood Pressure can reduce the supply of blood to the brain. This happens when an artery in your brain is clogged, tears or leaks. Loss of blood can cause problems with language, movement, vision or any other function of the brain depending on the part that is affected.

The damage can be temporary as well as permanent. It is temporary when the blood supply is restored otherwise there is permanent damage to the cells.

Damaged Heart

Your heart is a muscle and needs blood to function. When the supply of blood is not sufficient or stopped, it could lead to:

When the arteries are blocked, the heart has to work harder to push blood. This makes the heart larger than normal and the walls of the heart weaken. Loss of strength in the heart walls causes heart attack or heart failure.

Heart Attack

Damaged Eyes

Prolonged hypertension can cause the blood to squeeze off and damage the small blood vessels in your eyes. The fluid builds up under the retina where the images focus. This leads to blurry, lost or distorted vision.

Damaged Bones

High blood pressure makes you pee out too much calcium. If your body takes calcium from bones, it may lead to osteoporosis.

Damaged bones

Damaged Kidneys

The kidneys rely on tiny blood vessels to bring them oxygen and nutrients and filter out waste from the body. When these vessels get clogged, your kidneys cannot perform their job. Now, when blood pressure rises, there is more kidney trouble which could cause kidney failure.