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High blood pressure, often known as hypertension, is frequently referred to as the silent killer. This is not hyperbole. In contrast to more severe diseases, high blood pressure often shows no symptoms, yet it continues to harm your heart, paving the way for one of the most dreaded medical emergencies: a heart attack. The link is a clear, well-understood series of events that develops over years; it is not the result of chance.

Dr. Arvind Das, the principal director and head of cardiology at Max Hospital in Gurugram, described how excessive blood pressure causes heart attacks in an interview with The Daily Jagran.

Heart Attacks and High Blood Pressure Are Linked

Fundamentally, a myocardial infarction or heart attack happens when blood supply to a portion of the heart muscle is suddenly interrupted, resulting in tissue death. Almost frequently, the cause is a blockage in a coronary artery, one of the blood channels that provide oxygen-rich blood to the heart. So, how does this blockage result from high blood pressure? The process known as atherosclerosis holds the key to the solution. Consider your arteries to be a network of pliable pipes. The delicate inner lining of these pipes is chronically damaged by prolonged high pressure. Because of this damage, the artery walls become “sticky,” which promotes the buildup of a material known as plaque. A combination of lipids, cholesterol, and other waste products from cells make up this plaque.

These plaques enlarge with time, constricting the arteries and preventing blood flow. It’s similar to a plugged drain. Even if the heart may still get some blood, it is insufficient to fulfill its needs, particularly when exerting oneself. Chest discomfort, a warning indication called angina, may result from this. However, when one of these plaques becomes unstable, the true threat arises. A plaque may burst due to the continuous, thumping pressure of high blood pressure.

Your body’s emergency response mechanism kicks in at that point, treating the rupture as if it were a wound. To “patch” the injury, it rapidly creates a blood clot at the location. Unfortunately, this clot has the ability to totally block a tiny artery, cutting off the downstream portion of the heart’s blood flow immediately. The immediate cause of a heart attack is this sudden, complete blockage. High blood pressure directly damages the heart in addition to the arteries.

The heart muscle, especially the left ventricle, which is the primary pumping chamber, must work significantly harder to pump against the elevated pressure. Left ventricular hypertrophy is a condition where the muscle thickens and enlarges over time as a result of this ongoing tension. The heart may seem to be becoming stronger, but in reality, it is becoming less effective and more susceptible.

In order to operate, a thicker heart muscle needs more oxygen, yet it often tries to get that oxygen from the same arteries that plaque is narrowing. Because of this mismatch between supply and demand, the heart is more vulnerable to the harm that might result from an abrupt stop in blood flow.