There was always a relation between heart diseases and cold weather. Older people often complained about high blood pressure and heart related problems during cold weather. Now new researches have found the reason behind connection between winters and hear diseases. Lower temperature not only chills our body but also make some internal changes in our body, which can be easily overcome by a young healthy adult, but an overweight or older person will find difficulty in coping with that. You will understand the factors responsible for that by the time you reach end of this article.
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Effect of cold weather on Blood Pressure
- Lower temperature narrows the blood vessels and thus blood pressure in increased. It can slightly increase the blood pressure even in healthy human being.
- Rise is blood pressure during winters is more common in people above 60. Old age people are more prone to this increase in blood pressure because the elasticity of their blood vessels is very reduced compared to a young person. Narrowing blood vessels during winters and the lower elasticity due to old age results in more increased blood pressure. It puts extra work load on heart.
- Weight Gain is also common in winters due to reduced physical activity, which can also increase the blood pressure. Not only older people but even young don't want to go outside or doing some physical activity during winters. But our diet is usually increased in winters, which results in increased weight. Increased weight means more body fat, which can also give rise to blood pressure.
- Those who are already a patient of hypertension, winter brings a more add-on to their blood pressure. So they need to take extra care of their diet and physical activity.
- Diseases like heart attack and stroke are directly related to blood pressure and heart health. Cases of heart attack and stroke suddenly increase during end of winters. It is because their hearts and blood vessels has taken enough load during winters due to continuous high blood pressure and body weight has also increased during that time.
Precautions necessary to save yourself
To save yourself from the above mentioned negative impacts of cold weather on your blood pressure and heart, you must take some precautionary measures. These measures are must if you are above 60.- Wear warm clothes as per the intensity of cold. Proper warmth can save your blood vessels from narrowing.
- Keep your physical activity to an optimum level. Heavy weight lifting is also not recommended during extreme winters. Completely abstaining from any regular exercise will also result in increased weight.
- Balanced diet is also necessary. Keep in mind that your body needs extra food to keep itself warm during winters, but your activity level is also reduced which mean that you will lesser amount of food. So keep these points in mind and decide right amount of food to give you sufficient energy and not letting you increase your weight.
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