Your kidneys are the important organs that perform many functions to keep your blood clean and chemically balanced.
They play an important role in keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range, and blood pressure in turn can affect your kidneys’ health.
High blood pressure can damage your kidneys.
How High blood pressure can damage your kidneys?
Your heart works harder with high blood pressure and it can damage blood vessels throughout your body. Removal of wastes and extra fluids from your body will be stopped when blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged.
Extra fluid which is not removed from blood vessels can raise the blood pressure more. Hypertension is a leading cause of kidney problem, also called as end stage renal disease (ESRD). When your kidney fails, kidney transplant or dialysis is needed.
High blood pressure or hypertension can permanently damage tiny blood vessels in the nephrons of the kidneys. The damage keeps your kidneys from working as well as they should over time. If blood pressure is high, the damage becomes worse and functions of the kidney will continue to drop.
Damaged kidneys increase the level of blood pressure. If your kidneys are healthy, they can control your blood pressure.
Identify the risk of blood pressure:
Damage of the kidneys can be prevented by controlling blood pressure. People with high blood pressure have no symptoms. The only way to know whether the blood pressure is high is to measure with blood pressure cuff.
You will get two readings, one is systolic pressure and the other is diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure represents when your heart is beating and diastolic pressure represents when your heart is resting between beats. Your blood pressure is considered normal if it stays below 120/80.
When blood pressure damages your kidneys, they are unnoticeable and detected only through medical tests. Blood tests can identify whether your kidneys are removing waste effectively. Your doctor asks for a test that measures serum creatinine. If it is high in your blood, it indicates that your kidney is damaged.
Prevent high blood pressure from damaging your kidneys:
Keep your blood pressure normal, if you have kidney damage. Control your blood pressure with lifestyle changes.
- Maintain a healthy weight and choose fruits, grains, vegetables and low fat foods in your diet.
- Limit your in take of sodium if you already have high blood pressure.
- Get 30 minutes of exercise regularly five days a week.
- Avoid consuming alcohol, caffeine and smoking.
Medications are needed for many to control high blood pressure. Your doctor prescribes medicines after checking your blood pressure if required.