The Woodhouse Day Spa

Did you know that high blood pressure doesn’t just affect your heart? Your blood needs to pump efficiently to keep a multitude of other organs working properly, as well.

Impaired Vision

• Causes blood vessels in the eye to burst or bleed
• Vision may become blurred or otherwise impaired and can result in blindness

Brain

• High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for a stroke
• Very high pressure can break a weakened blood vessel, which then bleeds in the brain. This can cause a stroke.
• If blood clots block one of the narrowed arteries, it can also cause a stroke

Arteries

• As people get older, arteries throughout the body harden, especially those in the heart, brain and kidneys
• High blood pressure is associated with these stiffer arteries
• This causes the heart and kidneys to work harder

Kidneys

• Kidneys act as filters to rid the body of wastes
• Over time, high blood pressure can narrow and thicken the blood vessels of the kidneys
• The kidneys filter less fluid, and waste builds up in the blood
• The kidneys may fail altogether, and when this happens, medical treatment (dialysis) or a kidney transplant is needed.

Heart

• High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack
• The arteries bring oxygen-carrying blood to the heart muscle
• If the heart cannot get enough oxygen, chest pain, also known as "angina," can occur
• If the flow of blood is blocked, a heart attack results 

Find out more about high blood pressure from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and check out our infographic on Tumblr!