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It is not a coincidence that people who suffer from type 2 diabetes also tend to have high blood pressure; scientists have been able to find a solid correlation between blood sugar and blood pressure. There are three main ways through which high sugar levels in the body lead to an increase in hypertension.
First, the blood vessels lose their ability to stretch, and this increases the tension within them, leading to high blood pressure. Secondly, the fluids in the body increase, and this tasks the kidneys with more work which again leads to hypertension. Thirdly, the insulin resistance in the body directly increases the risk of hypertension.
We are going to look in detail into blood sugar and blood pressure, what each is all about, the link between them, their common causes, risk factors, home blood pressure kits one can use to keep tabs on the condition, the treatments, and the measures one needs to take to avoid either.
Table of Contents
What Is High Blood Sugar?
Sugar is important in the body; it serves very many vital functions that are responsible for the normal day-to-day operation of the body. However, when it becomes excess to the point where the body organs tasked with the job of regulating them fail to do so, then the body develops one of the most dangerous health complications known to man, diabetes.
A high blood sugar content damages the body organs and opens the body up to other opportunistic conditions like hypertension. When these two combine, then what you have in your hands is a cocktail of a time bomb, just ticking away slowly towards your eventual demise if nothing is done about the situation.
There are three types of diabetes as described below.
Type 1 Diabetes: This is the type that develops at any stage in life and is very common among children and adolescents. This is the condition where your body produces very little insulin, and that means you have to get insulin injections daily to keep the blood sugar levels within controllable limits.
Type 2 Diabetes: This is the most common type of diabetes and is very prevalent among adults, accounting for over 90% of all the cases worldwide. This occurs when the body is unable to make use of the insulin it produces, leading to sugar levels spiking in the body. Insulin and drugs are two of the common ways of keeping things under control.
Gestational Diabetes: Better known as GDM, it is a type of diabetes that affects pregnant women and can have adverse effects on both the mother and the unborn child. Fortunately, it is a temporary condition that disappears after the pregnancy, and it can be managed with drugs and healthy eating.
The symptoms of this disease manifest in many ways. They never come out immediately; it takes time for the condition to progress before you start noticing some things are amiss. The following are the most common symptoms for all the types.
- Frequent urination, especially at night
- Frequent thirst
- Weight loss
- Constant hunger
- Blurry vision
- Numb feet and tingling hands
- Fatigue
- Dry skin
- Worlds taking too long to heal
- Frequent infections
What Is High Blood Pressure?
Hypertension is a condition where blood pressure keeps going up to unhealthy levels that start interfering with the normal functioning of the body. With blood being very important in the body, it has to move around efficiently through the blood vessels using the right amount of pressure. Due to some external and internal factors, the pressure in these blood vessels may start spiking, and over a period of time, the condition may reach dangerous levels that may cause serious health issues and even death.
There are two types of hypertension, as described below.
Primary Hypertension: This is also called essential hypertension and is the type that takes time to develop in the body without any solid identifiable cause behind it. It is a very common type of hypertension, and there are several factors that are believed to be the reason behind it. They include genes, Physical changes, and the environment.
Secondary Hypertension: This is the type that develops quickly in the body and can become very dangerous within a short period of time. The causes of this type of blood pressure are known, and they range from other complications like kidney diseases, sleep apnea, heart problems, alcohol abuse, among many other external and lifestyle-based factors.
Symptoms of hypertension vary from one person to another depending on the type of diabetes involved and their lifestyle habits. But on a general scale, the following are the common tell-tale signs that you may be suffering from hypertension.
- Headaches
- Shortness of breath
- Flushing
- Dizziness
- Chest pains
- Blurry vision
- Frequent nosebleeds
- Blood in the urine
The Link Between Hypertension and Diabetes
Hypertension and diabetes are linked to each other more than people may wish to admit. Both deal with human blood and how it operates in the body and this is the reason why having one will always increase the chances of getting the other. But how linked are they?
As mentioned in the beginning, there are about three things that have so far been identified as a link between the two. When you look at some of the lifestyle habits that contribute to diabetes, you will notice that most of them also feature highly in the causes of hypertension.
People who suffer from type 2 diabetes always end up being diagnosed with hypertension as a resulting complication, and all these are furniture proof that the two are never far off from each other when one is present. There are some conditions that contributed to the appearance of these two diseases at the same time, and they include the following.
Obesity: Obesity is the underlying factor that’s present in people having diabetes and hypertension. The obesity limits the body’s ability to be immune to some conditions, and this lays the foundation for opportunistic complications to set in, and among the many that do so, diabetes and hypertension are never far off.
High Sodium Diet: High sodium in your diet affects the ability of your blood vessels to transport blood efficiently. It increases the pressure in the blood, adding stress on other vital organs, which in turn are unable to deal with blood sugar efficiently.
Chronic Inflammation: Pre-existing conditions like chronic inflammation leave the body exposed, unable to deal with opportunistic infections and complications. People who have been known to have these kinds of inventions are also likely to develop a combination of diabetes and hypertension, among other issues.
Inactivity: Health is tied to physical activity, and people who tend to be sedentary will always develop all kinds of health issues, diabetes and hypertension being among them. There is a reason why physical exercise is prescribed as part of the management regimen of most of these complications.
The bottom line is that where there’s diabetes, hypertension is never far away. Diabetes is actually considered a high-risk factor for hypertension since an increase in blood sugar affects the chemical composition of the blood and this, in turn, affects how the vessels and other organs are able to handle their functions as needed.
Diabetes is known to damage arteries and veins, and this makes them likely targets for hardening through a condition called atherosclerosis. This, in turn, increases blood pressure that will continue to escalate if nothing is done on time. As far as things are right now, there is no confirmation as to whether hypertension can, in turn, cause diabetes the same way diabetes can contribute towards hypertension, but the two tend to co-exist at the same time.
Therefore, if you happen to be diagnosed with diabetes, be aware that you are at a high risk of developing high blood pressure, and you should invest in the right best blood pressure machine for home use to help you manage it better.
The Common Causes of Hypertension
Hypertension continues to become more prevalent among the population, and there are many hypotheticals that have been advanced to try to explain this phenomenon. There is no known cure for hypertension; all that people have are management measures that allow patients to lead normal lives without making things worse. But to better be able to deal with the diseases and even avoid them altogether, it is important that people understand the causes. They include the following.
Genetics
The power that genetics plays in diseases cannot be ignored, and scientists have confirmed that certain genes in our DNA make up some of us to be more vulnerable to developing high blood pressure at one point in our lives. As much as there’s very little that one can do to alter their genetic code, it does help one prepare for the future if they know they are from a long line of people who are likely to get the disease. This way, the doctor can start you on a health plan that will keep you safe rather than going in blind.
Obesity
Being obese puts a lot of pressure on the body organs to function as they are supposed to. The heart, for instance, has to pump the blood at higher pressures just to keep up with the demands of the body. This creates a strain on the heart and the vessels, leading to high blood pressure. Excess weight has been the underlying factor in over 40% of all hypertension diagnosis, and this is a number that cannot be brushed away. Exercising and eating healthy is the best way of reducing the chances of getting hypertension.
High Sodium Diet
Salt is the biggest culprit when it comes to causes of high blood pressure. It may be one of the most important compounds needed by the body, but too much of it can lead to a lot of issues that may affect the pH balance in the blood, leading to high blood pressure. The recommended amount of the daily intake of salt is less than 1500mg, but many people are consuming up to 3400mg. Maintaining this high intake for long will eventually manifest itself in the form of hypertension.
Low Potassium Diet
While sodium intake should be brought down, the intake of potassium must be increased to the required levels. Potassium is the compound that helps the body regulate the amount of sodium in the body; lack of it will increase the chances of hypertension setting in. At the same time, caution should be exercised to not overdo it as that will create heart problems.
Inactive Lifestyle
A sedentary lifestyle is dangerous, and it usually leads to all sorts of problems that are not just limited to hypertension. Exercising regularly helps your body use up any excess compounds in the body while burning off any excess fat in the process. It is the fastest way of killing two birds with one stone, with the benefit of looking fit and amazing at the end of it all.
Excessive Alcohol Consumption
It has been known for a while now of how damaging alcohol can be on the body, with hypertension being one of the many issues that may pop up. Alcohol not only interferes with the pH levels in the body but it also increases cholesterol levels which affect the heart in a negative way. Alcohol also damages arteries, making them harden up, and this increases blood pressure. It is recommended that you cut alcohol entirely from your life to boost your chances of avoiding high blood pressure.
Kidney Problems
Kidneys play a huge role in cleaning the blood off impurities and maintain the right pH levels for the rest of the body organs to function well. Once the kidneys are compromised, the blood becomes saturated with sodium leading to an elevated blood pressure. Once you start developing kidney problems, get medical help as soon as you can to ensure that the hypertension is monitored closely at all times.
The Common Causes of Diabetes
The causes of diabetes are not as clear-cut as those for hypertension. High intake of sugar is usually cited, but the root cause is much deeper than that since diabetes is more about the inability of the body to deal with the accumulation of sugars in the body. What is known, however, are the risk factors. These are conditions that increase the chances of diabetes setting in the body, and they include the following.
Low Insulin
What causes the body to stop producing enough insulin is still a mystery to many scientists, but one of the speculations point to the immune system. Sometimes the body, in its attempt to fight infections and other foreign bodies, ends up attacking and destroying insulin synthesizing cells, and this leads to a reduced insulin production which in turn leads to diabetes.
Weight
Weight is related to an uncontrolled intake of certain unhealthy foods, which in turn contribute to the accumulation of sugars in the body, leading to diabetes. High sugar drinks like caffeinated sodas are known to inject artificial sugars in the body that make an indica balloon, and at the same time, they compromise the body’s ability to regulate the new sugars. You should always watch what you eat to avoid ending up diabetic.
Genetics
Just like hypertension, there’s a genetic link that increases the chances of an individual developing diabetes if they have successive members of the family developing the disease over the years. Knowing your family history could help you take precautions early on in life to increase your chances of going through life in a healthy way without being encumbered with the complications related to diabetes.
Diet
An unhealthy diet will always result in a myriad of complications, with diabetes being among them. High sugar foods will only serve to increase the sugar content in the body, adding more pressure on the body to regulate them. If this is sustained over time, it will reach a point where the body becomes incapacitated and unable to deal with the sugar accumulation, and eventually, you will end up being a diabetic person.
Common Hypertension Treatment
There is no known cure that completely eliminates high blood pressure from the body; the best that most medication can do is to manage the condition to protect the other organs from being affected too much to the point where they stop functioning. The following are some of the common treatment regimens for hypertension.
Medication: There are a number of effective medications that keep the condition in check for as long as the dosage is adhered to. Some of these drugs include Angiotensin, Diuretics, Renin inhibitors, Alpha-blockers, Calcium channel blockers, among many other drugs.
Lifestyle Changes: The food we eat and the things we do to our bodies determine the level of health that we enjoy. Hypertension may be an internal condition, but it is influenced heavily by the things we do outside. This ranges from eating the right foods, avoiding alcohol and smoking, limiting the amount of sodium intake, and maintaining a stress-free life.
Constant Monitoring: Keeping track of the high blood pressure as much as you can is the best way of keeping the condition in check, and thanks to technological advancement, you can get your own home blood pressure kit that you can use without any assistance from the doctor.
Common Diabetes Treatment
Diabetes is also a tricky condition to deal with once it has set in. Just like hypertension, getting rid of the condition completely is impossible, and the best you can do is manage it. Fortunately, there are many effective methods that one can use to get around this, and they include the following.
Insulin Injections: Insulin injections make up the bulk of diabetes management. This can be done daily through injections or, in some cases, tablets, which are more manageable and less invasive than daily injections.
Exercises: Keeping that extra weight at bay will increase your chances of dealing with diabetes. The last thing you would want is having to deal with weight complications on top of high blood sugar levels.
Dietary Changes: Keeping away from high cholesterol foods and sugar-rich diets is the cheapest way of keeping the blood sugar levels in the body in check. This includes cutting down alcohol and smoking entirely from your life as they only make matters worse.
Monitoring Hypertension
When dealing with incurable diseases like hypertension and diabetes, the best you can do is to keep track of what you are taking and, at the same time, keeping tabs on the progress of the condition. Monitoring both conditions used to be a complicated affair that was reserved for physicians, but thanks to technological advancements, people can now handle that end of the business on their own through portable monitoring machines.
For hypertension, there are a number of high blood pressure monitors that one could use from the comfort of their homes to keep tabs on their blood pressure levels at all times. Some of the notable ones include the following.
This is a state-of-the-art and portable blood pressure monitor that makes use of the revolutionary PulseWave Technology to take accurate measurements of the blood pressure from the arm. The home-use monitor has the following features.
- It is clinically tested and certified by professionals
- Large-capacity lithium battery
- Accommodates more than 300 readings
- Supports USB charging and connectivity
- Large, user-friendly screen
- Backlight for easy readings
- Wireless transmission
This is another Raycome wearable homedics blood pressure monitor that is designed for optimum functioning. It makes use of the PulseWave Technology to record the most accurate blood pressure readings with very minimal margins of errors. The device has the following stand-outThe stylish features.
- Large lithium battery
- Portable with over 120 readings
- Accurate measurements
- Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity
- Fashionable design
- Can be linked to the BP Secretary App
- Cloud Storage
This is a specialized and automatic arm blood pressure monitor for kids. It is highly intuitive and non-invasive and can be used on kids of any age without any complications arising. This handy device has the following features.
- Stylish and playful design meant to make children relax when it is being fitted on their hands.
- PulseWave Technology
- Portable
- Large capacity battery
Conclusion
It is evident that hypertension and diabetes are closely linked, and the chances of both affecting an individual at the same time are very high. They are both incurable but can be managed using similar methods. All you have to do is follow the simple recommendations that have been outlined in the article. If you would be interested in knowing more about the best BPM kits and how they operate, visit our website at any time and have all your questions and concerns addressed by our team of experts.
