As Old As His Arteries

Hokitika Guardian, 2 June 1921, Page 1

As Old As His Arteries

WHAT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE MEANS. (By a Physician). 'l’lie news that Mr Bonar Law’s retirement is the result of high blood pressure has created a good deal of curiosity regarding this condition. it has been aptly said that for all practical purposes of life a man is only as old as his arteries; and if is quite true that the majority of men meet Nature’s warning checkmate and often their coup de grace through the portal of the circulatory system.

In order to understand what high blood pressure means it is necessary to bear in mind that the blood is contained in a practically closed system of elastic tubes—under pressure.

Each bea{ of the heart sends a wave of increased pressure along the bloodvessels which can be easily felt in every superficial artery, and is known as the pulse. The necessity for -H'ectly elastic arteries is an obvious sine qua non, both to maintain the flow and to receive the shock of increased pressure at everv beat.

Tlio pressure in the blood stream is maintained by the narrowing ot the boro as the main vessels split up into finer hranclafk, as well as by a certain state of contraction or tone in the smaller arteries, which obtains under .healthy and normal conditions. As long as the elastic wall of the arteries —the vital rubber, as it has been called—remains healthy all is well. It must be said, however, that individuals differ greatly in this respect, and in some human machines had rubber is used for the tubing. Some men, indeed, fail at 40 through no fault of their own—an unfortunate heredity being the casual factor. x * * * *

Increasing blood pressure is almost the common fato of every man with advancing years, and associated with it is a weakening of the elastic wall of the blood-vessels. The blood, moreover, attains with age an increased adhesiveness to the vessel wall, slackening its flow and hanking up the increased pressure. Worry, the stress and strain of life, over-eating and drinking, poisons, too, both chemical and morbid, and the wear and tear from over-work all tend to bring about this condition of high blood pressure. The next act in i'.o drama is Nature’s timely warning that we are exceeding the speed limit. Tins may take flic form of a slight departure from usual health and efficiency or be of more serious intent. A tinv blood-vessel may give way in some unsupporting tissue such ns the nose—a blessing in disguise, for Nature may thus relieve tlie pressure whenever dangerous. The most serious thing that can happen. of course, is for a blood-vessel in the brain —a structure that lends hut little support —to give way, with a stroke as a result, varying from a slight loss of speech to actual paralysis eleven worse.

To avoid the ravages of time which culminate in high blood pressure, overeating and alcohol should ho studiously avoided ; work should he lessened. Such people should not run the risk of high altitudes or ascend in aeroplanes, for the lack of support which the reduced atmospheric pressure gives is especially dangerous. ft is not generally known to what extent the efficient action of the mind —even our very judgments —may depend upon a normal blood pressure. The psychology of the subject lias yet to ho written, and not till then will it ],e realised that not a few of the tragedies in the history of the world may have been dependent upon such ft condition as abnormal blood pressure.