Hello viewers my name is Dr. Drake and I am
a general physician. People often come to me with their health
issues and one of them is low blood pressure. So, what causes your blood pressure to fall
so low? Is it really that dangerous? Keep watching to find out! Before we discuss the cause of a low blood
pressure, give us some love by clicking subscribe and ringing the notification bell. Watch till the end of the video to help support
Bestie. Similar to high blood pressure, which is also
known as hypertension, low blood pressure may have several causes. Let's start with the first cause, which is… Dehydration Can we imagine life without water? Probably not, and this is exactly why you
should consume an average of 3 litres of water everyday.
Failing to do so may cause dehydration, a
condition that lowers your blood pressure and forces the heart to pump blood at a faster
rate than it is used to. Unfortunately though, this is not where things
stop. In fact, here they get worse. The longer you stay without water, the effects
of dehydration increases. This can lead to fatigue, nausea, fever and
more.
Dehydration may even cause a person to faint
or feel very weak. So, the next time your doctor asks you to
drink 3 litres of water everyday, follow that advice without a second thought. Speaking of second thoughts, here is cause
number two… Heart Problems Sometimes heart related issues may lower your
blood pressure. This can affect your blood circulation and
may lower your blood pressure. Similarly, other heart conditions such as
heart failure, heart attacks or issues in the heart valves might lower your blood pressure. This is why it is important to have a healthy
heart, which will pump blood at a proper rate, thus regulating the blood pressure and keeping
your body functional. Please keep in mind one thing though, your
heart also lowers your blood pressure when you are taking a rest after an exhausting
activity. So, if you are heading straight to the doctor's
clinic after a tiring day at office then your blood pressure will read lower. This is temporary and doesn't mean that you
have low blood pressure. So, why would your heart be so "heartless"? Simple, to maintain a proper body temperature.
Now, let's move to cause number three Pregnancy This is more of a temporary thing than a long
term one. During pregnancy, a woman's body is trying
to make room for another individual or in some cases more than one. This causes the tissues and muscles to expand
so that the body can adapt. The circulatory system also expands rapidly
during this time and lowers the blood pressure.
Thankfully though, it usually shifts back
to normal once a woman has given birth. In case it doesn't, we suggest that you go
to a doctor who can help you with this. Now time for cause number four… Loss of Blood Admit it, you saw this one coming. Whether it is through internal bleeding or
a severe injury, losing a lot of blood can lower your blood pressure. This can't be explained without going through
a point we have already explained in this video. Imagine you are riding a bike on a freeway. It is a cloudy day and there is a little bit
of a drizzle but nothing major. All of a sudden it starts raining heavily,
your tires start skidding and before you know it, you’ve just had an accident.
Your injuries may be both external and internal. In both cases, there will be blood loss. As we mentioned earlier, a lower heart rate
may lead to low blood pressure. In this case, if the loss of blood is less
than 15% then there will be a small change in your heart rate. On the other hand, if the blood loss is more
than 15%, your heart rate will increase. This will happen in response to the fall in
arterial and pulse pressure. Now, the heart needs to pump blood, but there
is not enough blood to pump. So, what does the heart do? It lowers your blood pressure and continues
to do it job. Now you might be thinking, "Does this mean
both lower and higher heart rate may lead to low blood pressure?" Hmm, no not really. A low heart rate means that the blood is being
circulated slowly.
Yes, it may lead to low blood pressure, but
it’s not for sure. Whereas, if the heart rate has increased in
response to blood loss then it is more likely that your blood pressure will lower. Moving on to number five… Septicemia You may be aware of several bacterial infections
that can harm your body. These infections usually affect your lungs,
skin or other vital body organs, but sometimes they can enter your bloodstream. This type of infection is known as Septicemia. How dangerous is this? Imagine a bacterial infection that has access
to your bloodstream, the bacteria and its toxins will start spreading. If left untreated it may lead to sepsis, a
complication that can cause inflammation throughout your body. It doesn’t stop there though, it may cause
blood clots and stop the blood supply to many of your vital organs, resulting in organ failure. Septicemia also lowers a person's blood pressure
drastically. If someone already has low blood pressure
then this infection may cause septic shock, which can lead to respiratory failure, heart
attacks and even strokes. So yes, it is pretty dangerous.
Let's move to number six… Vitamin B12 Deficiency Vitamin B12 is a water soluble nutrient and
this means that the body can't store it in large amounts. As a result, it is important that you keep
getting this nutrient through regular dosages, either through supplements or through your
diet. Deficiency of this nutrient can lead to loss
of memory, vision problems, weakness in muscles, fatigue, irrational mood swings and Low Blood
Pressure. This is one of those issues that can be controlled
though. Just try to maintain a diet with a moderate
amount of red meat, clams, fish, milk, cheese and eggs.
This should help you keep your Vitamin B12
levels from dropping too low. Try to avoid overeating as it might have harmful
effects on your body. Always have a variety of things on your diet,
but in moderation. Now that we know the causes and effects, there
is just one question that is left to be answered. Is it really that dangerous? It depends, as we have already discussed in
this video low blood pressure can be temporary like when women have it during pregnancy.
Sometimes the blood pressure may fall because
of loss of blood or heart problems. These scenarios can be dangerous depending
on the severity of the case. Even lack of nutrients may cause this problem,
but it truly becomes life-threatening when it is accompanied by an infection like Septicemia. Low blood pressure can be kept in check with
proper meals, proper sleep and consumption of sufficient fluids in a day. In case things get too intense, we would suggest
going to your nearest doctor. So, we leave it to you. Do you think it is dangerous? Let us know in the comments section below,
as usual we would love to hear from you..
