Articles
High blood pressure dangers: Hypertension's effects on your body
Other possible dangers of high blood pressure
Content
Damage to your arteries
Damage to your heart
Damage to your brain
Damage to your kidneys
Damage to your eyes
Sexual dysfunction
High blood pressure emergencies
Damage to your heart
High blood pressure can cause many problems for your heart, including:
- Coronary artery disease. Arteries narrowed and damaged by high blood pressure have trouble supplying blood to your heart. When blood can't flow freely to your heart, you can have chest pain (angina), irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias) or a heart attack.
- Enlarged left heart. High blood pressure forces your heart to work harder to pump blood to the rest of your body. This causes part of your heart (left ventricle) to thicken. A thickened left ventricle increases your risk of heart attack, heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
- Heart failure. Over time, the strain on your heart caused by high blood pressure can cause the heart muscle to weaken and work less efficiently. Eventually, your overwhelmed heart begins to fail. Damage from heart attacks adds to this problem.
