Things You Must Know About Hypertensive Heart Disease

We know that high blood pressure affects various parts of your body like kidneys, brain etc. Similarly, it impacts your heart too, which is referred to as hypertensive heart disease. This disease occurs due to heart problems that are caused by increased blood pressure levels.  Note that, hypertensive heart disease is the leading cause of illness and death from high blood pressure.

You must be aware that in high blood pressure the pressure exerted inside your blood vessel is quite high. So, your heart has to work harder as it pumps blood against this pressure. The bad news is, this can lead to thickening of the heart muscle.

Types of hypertensive heart disease

1) Narrowing of the arteries

The work of the coronary arteries is to transport blood to your heart muscle. Your blood vessels may become narrow due to high blood pressure, this can slow or stop the blood flow to the heart. Medically, this condition is termed as coronary heart disease (CHD) or coronary artery disease. This condition makes it tough for your heart to function properly and supply the rest of your organs with blood. Worse is, it can put you at a greater risk of heart attack.

2) Thickening and enlargement of the heart

It is well understood that high blood pressure makes it difficult for your heart to pump blood,  making the heart muscles to thicken and grow. All this in return hinders that functioning of the heart. And, generally all these changes take place in the main pumping chamber of your heart, which is the left ventricle. The medical term for this condition is left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). An important thing that you must know is CHD can cause LVH and vice versa. LVH  can cause heart enlargement, which can compress the coronary arteries of your heart.
How to prevent hypertensive heart disease?

One simple way to keep hypertensive heart disease at bay is by ensuring that your blood pressure is under control. You must also keep a check on your cholesterol levels. So, for a healthy heart and body, eat healthy, monitor your stress levels, maintain a healthy weight, get enough sleep, and exercise regularly.