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Health & Healing Articles
Hypertension... what is it?
What can we do about it?
Colin Ifield
Having spent the majority of my working career as an engineer which had me involved in the design and maintenance of hydraulic, mechanical and electrical systems, has given me a reasonable understanding of how our bodies function. As I said in a previous article, I marvel at the design intricacies of our various physiological functions.
In speaking to people of all walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that most people have not had the same advantages and do not, for the most part, understand even the most basic of these systems.
When it comes to our cardiovascular system, one could compare this to hydraulic and lubrication systems of machinery but to go into a detailed description of the workings of such a system, would be boring and long-winded.
We all know that if we kink a hose or close off a watering nozzle, the hose end may blow off. This results from an increase in pressure. We have also learned that repeated kinking of the hose would cause it to fail, due to fatigue.
In simple terms, the cardiovascular system comprises the heart (pump), an open loop vascular system, comprised of arteries, veins and capillaries, many check valves to stop back flow and a filter (the liver).
The blood pressure will rise due to a restriction in flow caused by a blockage of the filter, faulty check valves or silting or crimping of the arteries and veins. In the medical field, this raised blood pressure is called hypertension.
Our vascular system comprises many parallel systems, and therefore the cause of increased blood pressure may be anywhere within the body and can be difficult to locate.
In the absence of any other diagnosed cause of elevated blood pressure, the most likely culprit is simple restriction of flow by clamping of the arteries and/or veins by tight or adhered muscles. This restriction can also lead to blockages, as can be the case with thrombosis.
The method of measuring blood pressure by applying a tourniquet that temporarily stops the flow through an artery does in itself, force more blood flow through the remaining parallel systems and therefore increases the pressure at the heart. A true reading of blood pressure at the heart can only be obtained by reading the pressure within the artery itself, close to the outlet of the heart. However, nature did not provide gauging points and therefore, unfortunately, this is not practical. The potential for incorrect readings, with our current method, is high but to explain this would take an article of several pages and be too technical. The fact is that the method used is the best standard we have at this time and serves us reasonably well. The problem we do have is interpreting the results.
If you are suffering from elevated blood pressure, the most likely culprit is simple restriction of blood flow by the muscles. This can happen as a consequence of mental stress or by overworking of the muscles or damage from accidents, just to name three examples.
Our modern life styles are such that we may overuse or even abuse our muscles in ways that nature did not foresee or intend and most of us live under enormous stress that results, amongst other things, in muscle problems. Elevated blood pressure is only one potential problem arising from muscular adhesions and tension; these same muscle problems also restrict the flow of our lymphatic system; thereby impairing our immune system.
We should take more care in how we work our muscles and we should avoid stress.
It is a known fact that regular massage reduces muscular adhesions and that meditation reduces stress levels. We should seriously consider regular massage and meditation as two of the most important methods of maintaining a healthy heart and vascular system, in addition to adequate exercise.
This article is intended to be informative and interactive. Readers are invited to participate, by writing to us with their thoughts or comments and to request topics of interest, relating to health issues.
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