HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 August 1929, Page 10

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS These are the days -when nearly everyone talks familiary of his* blood pressure. It has ' displaced the liver :as a topic of conversation. But few of those who talk of it so •glibly have any real knowledge ot what it is, and, therefore, of the reasons for adopting a certain mode of Some people regard blood pressuid itself as harmful and even dangerous. Yet without a fair measure of blood pressure we would not be in this world at all. When anyone faints, for instance, it is because the blood pressure falls so low that the blood cannot reach the brain. It is with blood pressure, in fact, that your circulation is carried on. The heart pumps a. certain volume of blood into (he blood-vessels in a series of jerks; these distend the elastic arteries, wb’ch, in turn, recoil on the blood stream in a steady pressure. You must have a fair average, even pressure, of blood to work and live. But you can also have too much, find that is where the trouble arises. There is an average blood pressure for all, which varies a little with age. When you have turned 40 it begins to increase a little each year, and in many people keeps on doing so.

Why is this? Very largely it is- due to the failwear and tear of the human machine. A couple of hours’ spade work in the garden will send your blood pressure up a little. So will a couple of hours’ mental effort. The writing of this article will probably send my pressure up a trifle. But rest and relaxation lower it again. Now you see the- importance of not overdoing it, either physically or mentally, as a habit. Over-exertion in these respects inevitably tends to get your blood pressure just a little too high. Strain and effort indulged in too constantly are tile, prime causes of high blood pressure. But, if fair wear and tear raise the blood pressure a little, unfair wear and tear do so even more effectually. Physical labour beyond your capacity and also —athletes please note this—physical exercise beyond your capacity, will raise your blood pressure permanently a little. So will constant worry and anxiety.

But the most powerful agent in raising (ho blood pressure is the use cd stimulants in an indulgent manner. single full dose of whisky or brandy wil’ rouse the circulation and raise the pressure in a manner that is obvious and also pleasurable. One of the chief uses of stimulants is to raise

. blood pressure when it needs ’•aising. as when one faints, or is exhausted. Bui. this can easily be over-

tone. If you are full-blooded and are i ibitually indulging in nips of stimul•nts, t.'io blood pressure will get unmJy high in time unless you .take

•onio periodical measures to keep it Town, such as an annual course of treatment, at a spa, or a course of saline laxatives at home. So much for high blood pressure, per se, always remember that after 40 it will generally get higher in the natural course of events. If that were all it would be possibly an inconvenience and little more. But it is not all. There is the condition of the arteries against whose walls the pressure is exerted. These, up to middle age, are elastic and healthy. They yield to the pressure and recoil again. But after middle age their walls begin to thicken and are less elastic, and in time they may become hardened and therefore brittle. The danger of this can easily be seen. If the pressure is unduly high, and at the same time the blood-vessels are not quite sound, they may give way somewhere. They often do, and that, somewhere :s. nearly always in the brain, where they are not so well supported as elsewhere. When one gives way blood is poured out. That is a stroke, always a serious and not uncommonly . fatal accident. This is the one gre'at danger facing all people over middleage who have unduly high blood pressure.

How can one tell high blood pressure? The doctor’s finger will estimate it roughly, but to determine it accurately a little instrument is applied to th© arm and it is measured. The average blood pressure of a''man of -ll) would be about 130 or so. If .-.ver 150 it would be distinctly high, it .also gives rise to symptoms and feelings you experience yourself. Headaches, a sense of fulness in the head, throbbing, and particularly giddiness. Sometimes a vessel bursts in the white of the eye and makes 'it bloodshot As soon as the existence of really high blood pressure is established a certain course of life should be adopted. It can be summed up in two words—“Ca’ canny.” Whatever views one may hold as to the wisdom of “Safety First” as a slogan for a general election, there is no doubt whatever of its value and necessity as a slogan for high blood pressure. All sudden, violent, and prolonged efforts are Harmful. Stooping and straining have special risks. They engorge the blood vessels of the head.

The- subject .of really high blood pressure must take life easily. His day’s work may not be cloAe, but his strenuous day’s work certainly is. Diet with him is a. matter of urgent importance. Solid and liquid food that tends to increase blood pressure, must be more or less cut out. Stimulants must go. Here the fiat is inexorable. Meat again is better abandoned or reduced to a bare minimum. Fish will form a substitute. Dyspepsia and constipation harmful to all, are actually dangerous when the blood pressure is excessive. This existence may not be a thrilling one but it is the only really safe one. There is no satisfactory way of permanently reducing high blood pressure by means of drugs. You can reduce it temporarily, by the drugs known as nitrites, but these will not keep it down. Diet and mode of life are the factors' you will have to rely upon mainly. ' •' ” But there is one other important point. The circulation can be depleted and ’the pressure ’ thereby lowered by the use of certain purgatives fllaxatives, and the most valuable of these for regular use are certain salts taken regularly in small doses. A pinch of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, dissolved in a teacupful of water and taken on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, is one of the most popular and valuable ways. Or, if you prefer it, the “waters” of nearly all spas, or their crystallised salts, ar© equally useful for this purpose. They keep the pressure down. —Glasgow Weekly Herald.