Hypertension Essay

Submitted By jholman01
Words: 385
Pages: 2

Hypertension is high blood pressure. Hypertension can be caused by many different things, including: age because as the body ages the arteries narrow and become hardened; higher than normal blood volume; the heart beating to fast or to forceful; stress; flight or fight response. Hypertension can also be secondary to an underlying condition. When a person has hypertension it interrupts the body’s homeostasis. Homeostasis is the bodies “happy” place when the body’s condition is normal and functioning properly. Hypertension affects many different organs and systems because blood flows through the entire body. In the brain if the pressure is too high in the vessels it can cause the vessels to break and leak into the brain causing a stroke. A stroke can also occur when if a blood clot blocks a vessel in the brain (nhlbi, 2013). The eyes can be affected because too much pressure in the vessels can cause them to burst or bleed causing vision impairment (nhlbi, 2013). The heart is affected because it has to work harder to circulate the blood. When blood pressure is high it causes microscopic tears in the artery heart walls overtime this can catch small particles and build up plaque in these walls not allowing the heart muscle to get the proper blood supply (heart, 2013). The kidneys are affected because they are the filter system of the blood and when the pressure is too high it causes them to work harder to filter the waste and damaging the vessels. Soon the kidneys will no longer be able to filter waste or excess