The weather is getting colder and colder, and many friends with hypertension find that at this time, the previously stable blood pressure is easy to rise. Many studies have also found that the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is also higher in winter.
Why is this? How do friends with hypertension deal with fluctuating blood pressure?
Blood vessels expand with heat and contract with cold, causing blood pressure to fluctuate.
Blood vessels also have the characteristics of expansion with heat and contraction with cold. When blood vessels contract in cold, blood pressure will rise. When it is hot, blood vessels dilate, causing blood pressure to drop.
Cold can stimulate the body to produce many changes to resist cold and maintain heat. One of the most important ones is to secrete hormones that stimulate vasoconstriction and reduce heat loss. In this way, the resistance of blood to flow in blood vessels will increase and blood pressure will rise.
The blood pressure of normal people will also rise in winter. Generally speaking, the blood pressure will fluctuate from 5 to 10 mmHg in winter.
The fluctuation of blood pressure in hypertension patients will be more obvious, which is mainly due to the decrease of vascular regulation ability caused by arteriosclerosis.
Mild fluctuation does not require dressing change.
When blood pressure is found to be rising, do you want to add the dosage? Don’t worry. It’s not that the antihypertensive drugs are not effective in cold weather, but that the body needs a process of adjustment.
- As long as the blood pressure fluctuation does not exceed 20 mmHg and there are no discomfort symptoms such as dizziness and headache, it can be observed. If the fluctuation range exceeds 20 mmHg, or discomfort symptoms occur, you need to find a specialist and adjust the drug treatment plan.
Don’t add drugs at will, let alone listen to others saying that so-and-so drugs are effective.
Keeping warm is the most important thing.
It is better to keep warm in winter than drug therapy, especially to keep warm in the head. It is suggested to form the habit of wearing hats in winter, which can reduce heat loss and various discomfort caused by brain vasoconstriction.
Why is the proportion of cerebral hemorrhage in winter in the north much higher than that in the south? In addition to the colder temperatures in the north, the large temperature difference between indoor and outdoor is also a very important reason. From indoor to outdoor, the temperature fluctuates by tens of degrees, making it difficult for the body to adapt. Just as glassware will explode when it is hot with cold water, blood vessels are also at risk of rupture when the temperature fluctuates greatly.
Whether you enter the room from the outside, or vice versa, it is best to have an adaptation process. Do a good job of keeping warm indoors before going out. People living in buildings can stay in the corridor for a while, with a buffer, which can reduce some cold stimulation.
Frequent dressing change is not advisable.
There are also some friends who think that blood pressure is not well controlled in winter and should use some [good] drugs. There are also many friends who change into more expensive antihypertensive drugs in winter and cheaper antihypertensive drugs in summer. This is actually very unfavorable to blood pressure control.
Antihypertensive drugs are not as expensive as possible. Suitability is the key.
Most of the antihypertensive drugs with higher prices are sustained-release preparations or controlled-release preparations, which take effect slowly but last for a long time, and are the key to keep blood pressure stable for a long time.
However, in winter, the patient’s blood pressure often fluctuates greatly in a short period of time. If you want to adjust the medication, you also use short-acting preparations on the basis of the previous ones, which does not affect the blood pressure at night. These short-acting preparations are often not expensive. If the patient chooses [expensive drugs] by himself, it is not conducive to blood pressure control.
In a word, although blood pressure is naughty and difficult to control after cold weather, we should adopt the attitude of [strategic contempt and tactical attention], adjust with the help of doctors according to the principle of blood pressure rise and fluctuation, and pass a winter with stable blood pressure!