I’m only 23, I can’t have high blood pressure! article by Pattie Skoviak, DC

A patient walked in today for a CDL Physical.  Though his blood pressure was sound at 128/82 given his age of 50, he had a few questions about how some people get high blood pressure and not others.  Mostly, he was concerned that his 23 year old son was recently diagnosed and beginning to treat his own hypertension.  Is there a genetic component with you and your wife for early hypertension in the family I asked, offering a possible avenue of explanation? No, he assured me.  Maybe his dad as he aged, he later added, but nothing really showing up now.  He is a red head, tightly strung if that says anything.  Well, I nodded, it does.  Whether you are 23, 43, or 73, if you are Type A running full steam ahead, 24/7, there is a good possibility you will attract hypertensive qualities, or high blood pressure.

The Body is like an Automotive Engine

High blood pressure doesn’t care how old you are!  Imagine, I told my patient, running the RPMs in your car between the 4 and 5 mark nonstop, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, until finally something gave way.  That’s pretty much how it works in your body.  Except your heart is your engine.  Running blood through all vasculature at high, intense velocity over a long period of time is bound to cause damage.  This damage is to the blood vessel wall, weakening and destroying the wall with sustained pressure, not unlike the damange that occurs in hoses and wires running throughout the automotive engine.  When the blood vessel or hose is stressed to the point of injury or tearing, an event follows.  In the human it is often a stroke.  In your engine, it could be a handful of things.  In either event, you are now standing on the sidelines awaiting repair.  Because not one single individual is identical, when a stroke is suffered, the damage sustained is variable depending on the area of the heart or brain affected.  Recovery can range from complete to now you’re looking at filing for disability.

H2O Can Help Keep the Blood Vessels Healthy 

Good for the Body

The only sure way to minimize the affects of a heart attack or stroke, is to avoid one altogether!  Paying attention to your family history, signs and symptoms, diet, age, and risk factors such as smoking, will also improve your chances of living a long, natural life.  Become your own health advocate, keep your head out of the sand, ask a ton of questions at every doctor appointment, start moving if you are sedentary, and increase your water intake!  Get 80 ounces a day and actually measure it.  You’ll be surprised how much you think you are drinking and how little you are really getting in!  Remember, each cell in your body is 85 to 90% water.  Imagine the sludge you are trying to move around in those blood vessels with limited amounts of water!  Egads… Life is amazing!  Let’s go enjoy it, but first, let’s grab 6 ounces of water to prime our vessels.  Then, ready, set, …