B1a Flashcards
Why is blood in arteries under pressure?
Due to contractions of the heart muscles.
So that it reaches all parts of the body.
What do blood pressure measurements consist of?
Diastolic data (the blood pressure is at its lowest and the heart relaxes) and systolic data ( the blood pressure is at its highest and the heart contracts) in mmHg, mm of mercury.
What are the factors that increase blood pressure?
Being overweight, smoking, high alcohol intake and stress.
What are the factors that decrease blood pressure?
Eating a balanced diet and doing regular exercise.
What are the possible consequences of having high blood pressure?
Blood vessels can burst, possibly leading to strokes, brain damage and kidney damage.
What are the possible consequences of having low blood pressure?
Poor circulation and tissues don’t get all the food and oxygen they need. If you’re brain doesn’t get enough food and oxygen, you’ll get dizzy and faint.
What is the difference between fitness and health?
Healthy means being free from disease and being fit is the ability to do physical activity.
What are the different ways of measuring fitness?
Fitness profiles measure strength, speed, agility and flexibility, together with stamina. Stamina is a good indication of cardiovascular efficiency, the ability of the heart to supply the muscles with oxygen.
How do you evaluate different ways of measuring fitness?
Find the most effective method depending on the activity being carried out. For example, the best measure of fitness for a runner might be speed, but for a weight lifter it would be more useful to look at strength.
What factors can increase the risk of developing heart disease?
High blood pressure, smoking, eating high levels of salt and eating high levels of saturated fat.
How can cholesterol restrict or block blood flow in arteries?
It can build up in your arteries, forming plaques in the artery walls, restricting the flow of blood to the heart muscle, which can lead to a heart attack.
How does smoking increase blood pressure?
Carbon monoxide combines with haemoglobin in the red blood cells, reduce the amount of oxygen they carry. So that the tissues can get enough oxygen, heart rate has to increase. The heart contracts more frequently, increasing blood pressure.
Nicotine increase heart rate. The heart contracts more often, increasing blood pressure.
How can diet increase the risk of heart disease?
Saturated fat can cause a build up of cholesterol, a fatty substance….plaques etc. Eating a diet high in saturated fat has been linked to high levels of cholesterol in the blood.
High salt levels can increase blood pressure increasing the risk of damage to the arteries. This damage can encourage the build up of plaques, which can lead to a heart attack.
How can you interpret data showing possible links between the amount of saturated fat eaten, the build up of cholesterol plaques and the incidence of heart disease?
Remember that just because both of the variables are increasing, it doesn’t mean that one of them is causing the other to increase. There might only be a correlation between them.
How do narrowed coronary arteries, together with a thrombosis, increase the risk of a heart attack?
The heart muscle is supplied with blood by the coronary arteries. If these become narrowed blood flow to the heart is restricted and the heart muscle receives less oxygen. A thrombosis, blood clot, also restricts blood flow. If a thrombosis occurs in an already narrowed coronary artery, blood flow to the heart might be completely blocked off. If this happens, an area of heart muscle will be cut off from it’s oxygen supply, causing a heart attack.
