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Disorders of the Blood and its Circulation:- High Blood Pressure.

Disease Organs

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

High blood pressure, or hypertension to give it its proper medical name, is the most common form of high blood pressure. Its causes include kidney disease, disorders of the endocrine glands and malfunctioning or disorders of the arteries. A congenital abnormality of the aorta is one of the most serious forms of hypertension. Its chief symptoms are headache, usually in the back of the head, ringing in the ears, giddiness. Headache is worst at the time of waking in the morning and it has a tendency to wear off during the day.

While hypertension runs its natural course, it usually causes death in the end as a result of heart failure. A proportion of the victims die of kidney failure and some of a stroke. The earlier the onset of hypertension, the poorer is the life expectancy. A large number of deaths supposed to have occurred from heart disease were really the handiwork of hypertension left uncontrolled.

Hypertension and its causation can be better understood if we understand how the heart functions. It is a hollow muscular pump with four cavities, each provided at its outlet with a valve, whose function is to maintain the circulation. At each heart beat the two atria (the upper cavities) expel their contents in to the ventricles (the lower cavities), which at the same time they stimulate to contract together, so that the blood is driven into the arteries, to be returned again to the auricle having completed a circuit in about fifteen seconds through the body or the lungs, as the case may be. The heart beats from sixty to ninety times a minute, the rate in any given healthy person being about four times that of the respiration. The heart is to some extent regulated

By a nerve centre in the medulla, closely connected with those centers which govern the lungs and the stomach, and nerve fibers pass it to the vague nerve. By some of these fibers its rate and force can be diminished, by others increased, according to the needs of the various organs of the body. If this nerve centre be injured or poisoned, for example, by want of fresh air, the heart of a human being stops beating, although in some lower animals like frogs, fishes and reptiles, the heart may go on beating under favorable conditions even hours after its removal from the body.

Hypertension can be either functional or organic: the latter is the case when the fatty substances accumulate in the smaller arteries carrying blood to the heart. The openings being smaller, the heart has to beat faster and exercise more pressure to supply the blood to the various organs. Hence the higher blood pressure.

Hypertension is a disease of the modern civilization. Its incidence has increased during the last 50 years. The fast pace of life, the mental and physical pressures under which man in the present industrial and metropolitan environment works. Gives rise to psychological tensions. Worry is known to increase the adrenalin in the blood stream which causes the pressure of the blood to go up. Hypertension makes its victim a less than useful member of society. He cannot do any serious work, feels tired and out of sorts all the time. Never does he have a feeling of freshness even if he has full sleep. Difficulty in breathing may be experienced by him and dyspepsia is his constant companion.

Mental strain and an artificial way of life is the real culprit. Less physical work, a sedentary life, too much of intoxicants, tea, coffee, refined foods destroy the natural pace of life. The expulsion of waste and poisonous matter from the body is hampered and the arteries and the veins become slack.

Modern medicine believes that a healthy person should have a systolic pressure (at the beat of the heart) of 100 mm plus age and the diastolic pressure (between the beats of the heart) should be 80 mm plus age. The blood pressure is accurately measured by an instrument known as sphygmomanometer. The pressure, if it is abnormally high, is accompanied by disease of the arteries. The blood pressure normally increases with the advance of age, due to the hardening of the arteries. But it is an indication of ill healthy; the normal systolic blood pressure should range between 120 to 140 mm of hg. And diastolic should range between 70 to 80 mm of Hg. whatsoever the age is after 20 years.

Kidney diseases, hardening of the arteries and severe constipation leading to absorption of morbid hum ours through the gut lead to high blood pressure. Smoking is another addiction which leads to hyper tension. Smoke a cigarette and then have your blood pressure taken: it will be some points more than the normal.

Drugs prescribed by traditional physicians may temporarily reduce blood pressure, but they are harmful in the final analysis. The best way to reduce it is to remove the real cause. High pressure of blood is only a symptom of the poisonous matter which causes it and the naturopathic way of dealing with it is to remove the poisons from the system. Again, the ingestion of fresh fruits and vegetables instead of a traditional diet is helpful in ridding the body of the poisons which cause high blood pressure. A hyper-tension patient, If he is not too weak, should start the process of healing by living on fruits and vegetables for at least a week. The best course would be totaled only fruits at five hourly intervals only thrice in the day. Breakfast should consist of oranges, lunch of guava and dinner of tomatoes, or apples. Fruits like oranges, apples, pears, mangoes, guava, pine-apples, rose apple, raspberry, musk melon are the best diet in such cases. Bananas and jackfruit should be avoided. After a week of “fruits only” diet, milk should be added. Milk should be fresh. It should be boiled only once. After two weeks, the patient can be permitted cereals in his food. The best would be porridge.

Vegetables are also good for a patient of high blood pressure. A salt free diet is the best; but if you must take it, takes it 25% of the normal quantity. Vegetables should preferably be raw. If they are cooked, cook them with the rind on and do not let their natural juices burn in the process of cooking vegetables like cucumber, carrot, tomatoes, onion, radishes, cabbage and spinach are best taken in their raw form. They may be cut into small pieces and sprinkled with a little bit of salt and the juice of a lemon added to order to make them more palatable.

The second step is to deal with a constipated bowel. During the period that fruits are the mainstay of the patient, he should take a warm water enema every day in order to clear his bowels.

If the patient is too sick to take exercise, let him massage his body; otherwise he should take exercise. Massage should be away from the heart and towards the limbs and their extremities.

As the blood pressure shows signs of abating, take more exercise. Avoid too much straining of the heart. Breathe deeply while you are walking or taking exercise.

Rub your body with a rough towel vigorously for five to seven minutes after you have taken your bath. Avoid too cold water; add a little warm water to bring it to body temperature. If you have the patience, rub your body; instead of using a towel use your palms.

Early to bed is another cardinal principle which a person suffering from hypertension must follow. He should get eight hours of restful sleep. Those who find it difficult to sleep can keep their feet in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes and then wash them with cold water.

The patient must avoid over-straining, worries, tension, anger and haste. He must try to be cheerful. The natural treatment may take some time, but do not lose patience because it is the safest and the best way to get rid of this disease.

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