Our blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood our heart pumps and the amount of resistance to the flow of blood by the arteries. As we age, and because of certain lifestyle habits, our arteries start getting clogged with cholesterol, fat, and other buildups which is called plaque. This results in a difficult blood flow and raises our blood pressure.
Dosha imbalance and blood pressure
Our body is made up of five elements and our natural constitution (prakriti) decides which elements have more of an impact on our body over others. These are called doshas. Although all the doshas help in maintaining the blood pressure, the primary reason for hypertension is considered to be a chronic pitta imbalance. Hypertension is not a disease in itself but is a symptom. The primary aggravation happens in pitta and then it affects the vata which takes care of our blood circulation, In chronic cases, it is seen that all the three doshas are being affected.
Link between high blood pressure and coronavirus
With almost 800,000 active cases and 37,000 deaths, the coronavirus pandemic has completely gripped the world. COVID-19 can transmit from person to person and that has necessitated a global lockdown with most countries, including India, following a strict curfew. As the governments are doing all they can to stabilize the numbers, the medical community is learning many things about the virus. And one of these facts is that people with high blood pressure are a higher risk group for the virus.
As we discussed earlier, high blood pressure and the plaque caused by it reduces the blood flow to the heart. This makes our heart pump harder to maintain the blood flow. As time passes, this extra effort weakens the heart, making it difficult for it to supply us with oxygen-rich blood. More than half the people above 60 have high blood pressure. Aging, cardiovascular diseases, and unhealthy lifestyle choices lead to this.
If you are affected by coronavirus, it is a major risk because the virus can attack the heart directly. As the heart is already weak because of the higher blood pressure, it could lead to myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscle). This makes it even harder for the heart to pump blood.
The virus could also break away the plaque buildup and cause a heart attack. Moreover, if you have a heart condition, then the early symptoms of coronavirus (fever, respiratory distress) increases the possibility of a heart attack.
How to prevent coronavirus
The solution to this is two-fold. First, we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to prevent getting affected by the virus. There are several measures that you must take for this:
- Stay at home: Many countries are announcing two to three weeks of lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus among the communities. You need to listen to that and avoid going out until an all-clear has been given.
- Wash hands, regularly and a lot: You should wash your hands before and after touching anything. Also, make a regular habit of disinfecting your hands with a good sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your face: Inculcate a habit of not touching your eyes, mouth, and nose. Wear a face mask initially even at home so that your fingers are not touching your face until the habit sets in.
- Don’t share your food, utensils, or any other items with people that are showing symptoms of coronavirus.
These measures will help you from preventing coronavirus to a great extent. But, there’s a need to maintain your blood pressure as well because we still don’t know how long this virus is going to stay alive in the society.
Things that cause High blood pressure
As mentioned before, imbalance of the pitta dosha also leads to high blood pressure, further causing a heart disease. Charaka has mentioned many factors that lead to an imbalance in the functioning of the blood tissue. Some of these are:
- High salt and spicy food intake
- Alcohol consumption
- Tobacco consumption
- Low calcium and potassium intake
- Stress
- Fatty food, and
- Sedentary lifestyle
Mild to moderate hypertension in many cases doesn’t exhibit any symptoms. However, sudden or severe cases produce symptoms like dizziness, headache, palpitations, fatigue, dyspnea, exertion, excessive sweating, and insomnia. In chronic stages, this could cause strain on the heart, kidneys, brain, eyes, etc. These complications can further cause cardiomyopathy and lung congestion. Both of these come under lifestyle disorders, and hence, following a good diet regimen can control this to a large extent.
These comorbidities make a person more susceptible to getting afflicted by coronavirus. Moreover, as the statistics have shown, if a person having these ailments contracts the virus then their life expectancy decreases radically. The only way out of this is prevention.
Things that maintain blood pressure
The only way we can maintain a normal blood pressure is if there is no plaque buildup in our arteries. Plaque is caused by aging, cholesterol, and fat. We can’t do anything about aging but the other two can be taken care of. Some of the measures which can help you fight hypertension are:
- Stop smoking: Tobacco is one of the biggest reasons for plaque buildup in our arteries. If you want to reduce your blood pressure then this is one habit that needs to be dropped.
- Follow a healthy diet and increase physical exercise: Most physicians recommend their patients that they need to follow a healthy diet and do some form of exercise daily. The dietary choices mainly include limiting sugar, salt, and refined fats in your food.
- Take care of your mind along with the body: Hypertension is also considered to be of a psychosomatic origin as it affects both body and mind. Taking care of your mind can also help maintain your blood pressure. Avoiding day sleep, anger, anxiety, overexertion, and hyperactivity should be some of the measures you should take.
- Meditation is one of the best tools which can help you calm your mind and rid it of any of the above-mentioned issues.
- Herbs: There are certain herbs like Arjuna, Ashwagandha, and garlic which you can include in your daily diet to maintain the blood pressure. You can consume them raw or in a tablet form.
- Yoga: Yoga can be your best help if you are afflicted by high blood pressure. It not only works out your body but also calms down your mind. Moreover, it also aids in increasing immunity by making the body healthy, hence lowering your chances of getting affected by coronavirus to a large extent.
You can try out these yoga asanas from the comfort of your own home to pass that lockdown time while also improving your health.
With the coronavirus pandemic, the world is facing something unknown and the only way we can fight it is by doing one thing together - avoiding human contact. For people who have a chronic condition or are facing a recent bout of high blood pressure, this is the perfect time to get your lifestyle in check and come out of this period more hearty and healthy.
Meditation will calm your mind of any jitters or minor frustrations that you are facing in this lockdown. Join live meditations with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at 12 pm and 7.30 pm IST on youtube.com/srisri
Written with inputs from Dr. Sharika Menon, Ayurvaidya, The Art of Living
We’d love to hear from you
Leave your comments @artofliving
Join our free Covid care programs.
