The brain and high blood pressure

Dealing with high blood pressure?

Blood pressure is commonly what many of us think of when it comes to going to a doctor’s appointment. We all know that the first thing to typically happen is our vital signs are taken. Our vital signs include height, weight, heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, blood pressure, and pain scale. Blood pressure is given an emphasis because of the effect that increased blood pressure can have on the walls of our arteries. When blood pressure is rising, or high, the question naturally is what is causing the increase in blood pressure?

Typical treatments

Blood pressure is seen as a lifestyle factor in most cases. This means that an increase in blood pressure isn’t a permanent condition and can be reduced with lifestyle changes. Often times we are told to reduce fat intake, watch our cholesterol, and to exercise more. This advice is good-intentioned, but usually ends up with a lifetime prescription of cholesterol lowering medications and diuretic medications to help lower blood pressure.

Does lowering my cholesterol help?

This is where the line in the sand gets drawn. Cholesterol is needed for MANY vital functions in our body. In fact, it is so important that our liver is able to produce cholesterol for our body, even if we are not eating it in our diet. My opinion, when our body is capable of producing something when it is absent from our diet, it must be a rather important molecule. Cholesterol is required for every single cell membrane in our body. The cell membrane is the protective outer layer of the cell that keeps garbage out and protects the internal components of the cellular machinery. Cholesterol is the basis of ALL of our sex hormones, for males and females. The job of cholesterol is to carry lipoproteins from the liver to the arteries to “patch” any arterial wall damage. This “patch” is what’s known as atherosclerosis and plaque that many medications aim to eliminate. What is failed to realize in the logic of this treatment is cholesterol is simply the maintenance worker, not the molecule responsible for causing the damage. That means that the ROOT CAUSE of your high blood pressure likely isn’t high cholesterol. (glucose is often to blame for arterial wall damage!!!)

How the brain affects blood pressure

Regulation of blood pressure is a never ending job of the brain and the nervous system. Our body has many ways to change our blood pressure in an instant. The job of blood is to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues that are working. That means then whenever we have a thought, move a body part, digest food, or engage in any other activity our brain and nervous system must increase the amount of blood being delivered to those systems. Most often times are blood vessels constrict and get smaller to move blood more quickly to the area that needs blood and works on the basis of hydropressure.

Our brain is responsible for maintaining our blood pressure in other ways. There are many hormones at play to blood pressure regulation. Some worth mentioning are vasopressin (ADH), aldosterone, and epinephrine (adrenaline). The brain and nervous system have specific pathways designed to increase sympathetic output, which will in turn increase our blood pressure. If our brain and nervous system is “wound up”, this can result in increased blood pressure on one, or both sides of the body.

These hormones and nervous system pathways are also influenced through pressure receptors in our arteries, amount of light in our pupils, pressure receptors in our kidneys, and activation of our sympathetic nervous system.

Alternative treatments

If your blood pressure lowering medication isn’t lowering your blood pressure, then there must be a different root cause to blame for your high blood pressure. Your medications may also be playing a role in other symptoms you are experiencing, such as lack of energy, muscle soreness, muscle spasms, even chronic coughs.

At SCC Neuro, we use a brain based approach to identify the cause of your increased blood pressure. This include a complete exam of the function of your brain and nervous system. This takes a top down approach to treating your increased blood pressure to understand how the function of your brain and nervous system may be contributing to your blood pressure. Our goal is to help support your efforts to lowering your blood pressure and continue to offer guidance in terms of lifestyle changes, supplementation, and brain + nervous system rehabilitation.