How a Healthy Blood Pressure Can Protect Your Eyes

The blood plays a vital role in the body by helping to transport oxygen and other nutrients to where they are needed in the body. To do this effectively, the blood needs the pressure to be able to flow from the heart to all parts of the body and from the body back to the heart. When this pressure is just enough, the heart is said to have healthy blood pressure.

The blood pressure level that can be said to be healthy will vary with age. However, for adults, a certain range is acceptable as a healthy heart pressure. Most experts agree that a blood pressure level between 120/80 mmHg – 140/90 mmHg can be said to be healthy. If it falls below or above this range for a long time, it is no longer healthy.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of healthy blood pressure. How it can help you to avoid several diseases and make you live well. What you probably don’t know is that healthy blood pressure doesn’t only make you live well, it can also make you see well.

A healthy blood pressure eliminates the risk of the retina’s blood vessels from becoming hard and stiff, which creates pressure on the vessels leading to a push on the vessels and they eventually cross each other. At the severe stage, all these lead to hemorrhaging when the blood vessels begin to leak.

Hypertensive retinopathy is a disease that can be prevented by having normal or healthy blood pressure. It affects the retina which is located at the back of the eye which enables focus on images. Symptoms of hypertensive retinopathy might not be visible at the early or moderate stage until when it’s severe, where it causes frequent headaches and blurry vision. It causes cotton wool spots on the retina, bleeding, blood vessels become narrow, swelling of the optic nerve.

High blood pressure can cause fluids to accumulate beneath the retina which is called choroidopathy, which is a result of a leaking blood vessel under the retina. This leads to distorted vision. Also, optic neuropathy which is the damage of the nerves is a resultant effect of high blood pressure. In this condition in which blocked the flow of blood damages the optic nerve and can lead to vision loss.

As with other areas of human life, one of the best things that can happen to us all is the maintenance of a healthy life and the moderation of blood pressure is quite important. Hypertension not only affects the eyes even low blood pressure has its effects on the eyes. Glaucoma is associated with both low and high blood pressure but having low blood pressure can be a risk factor for glaucoma, ocular perfusion pressure specifically. Ocular perfusion pressure is the difference between blood pressure and eye pressure which changes at various times during the day. Whenever the blood pressure decreases or drops overnight, pressure in the eye might increase leading to the damage of the optic nerves.

A healthy blood pressure eliminates all of the above. To protect your eyes, keep your blood pressure under control by practicing regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, follow your diet plan recommended by your doctor, observe your routine checkup and taking medications as prescribed.