Hypertension Through Hypertrophy In The Heart

As you will see below, the heart is also a muscle in its function because it works like a smooth muscle. Although we do not control its work like other smooth muscles, its muscle structure consists of striated fibres like skeletal muscles. This result allows us to understand that, in part, it can be exercised like a skeletal muscle and even increase in volume like smooth muscles. We can more easily understand why if we consider that the heart beats at least 86,400 times a day or 31,536,000 times a year.

However, as with any muscle exercised, the heart grows as it tires. Unlike the rest of the body's muscles, increasing size is not beneficial. When its central part (the left ventricle) reaches a certain size, it can no longer contract with enough force to expel blood effectively. Thus, the person develops heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction.

But let's look at the parameters of cardiac hypertrophy to understand how cardiac hypertension is created, which, if not prevented, can cause health problems and even death.

Hypertrophy of the heart is usually due to two main factors.

One factor is the inheritance of a gene responsible for some myocardial proteins. If the father or mother carries this gene, they will likely inherit it to their child. The cause of the obstruction is the pathological movement of the mitral valve towards the outlet of the left ventricle.

Dynamic and intensive training cause great vasodilation with increased venous blood mobility, which leads to eccentric hypertrophy and, simultaneously, the creation of muscle volume in the left ventricle. As I mentioned above, the heart is a muscle with striated-skeletal fibres, and in addition, the cardiac muscle tissue also has androgen receptors.

Athletes who exercise particularly vigorously, and especially those who work intensively with weights and strength, who usually also combine some anabolic steroids, create a hypertrophic left ventricle (with more enormous muscle walls) which has greater demands for oxygen because it has a smaller capacity due to the muscle hypertrophy that has already developed and has reduced the volume of the oxygen capacity, so to meet the needs of lack of oxygen it starts to beat faster.

How does hypertension damage the heart?

When we rest, the heart beats 60-100 times a minute, depending on age and physical condition. These numbers of beats are too much to think about, and no matter how you look at it, the work of the heart is a lot of work for a person. Let's remember that the size of our hearts is the same as our fists.

However, as with any muscle exercised, the heart grows as it tires (hypertension tires it a lot). However, unlike the rest of the body's muscles, increasing size is not beneficial. When the central part of it (the left ventricle) reaches a certain size, it cannot contract with enough force to effectively eject blood, and the person begins to develop heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction.

The solution to the problem

In this case, the solution is aerobics which will create elasticity in the abdomen and collateral circulation, especially in case of an ischemic-coronary episode and, in general, in better oxygenation of the heart. Low-intensity aerobic exercise leads to an increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) which will act as an anti-atherosclerosis in the arterial endothelium. Aerobic exercise can generally remodel the heart and improve ventricular volume, thereby improving cardiac output and ejection fraction.

A notable example is bodybuilders and powerlifters with huge muscles, whose training is based on white, fast-twitch muscle fibres rather than red, which are slow-twitch and ideal for endurance. In how they train, this type of athlete has created cardiac hypertrophy, developing fat and smaller ventricles. The result is that they can efficiently transport blood by over-fatiguing, straining the heart to pump blood through the arteries and around the body. At that point, we see the intensity of the breathing trying to channel large amounts of oxygen to help cover the cardiac function.

However, hypertension through hypertrophy does not come only through the above two factors. The heart is the mechanism that transports oxygen, blood and nutrients throughout the body. In short, it is a key organ that keeps us alive. It is not just muscle hypertrophy but every kind of it hypertrophy that creates another type of tissue, even more dangerous, fatty tissue. It is no coincidence that obesity causes a lot of heart attacks and part of that is the increased work of the heart in achieving its function by covering another hypertrophic overweight.

Do not imagine that excessive muscle hypertrophy is very different from obesity by comparing it with a balanced cardiac function. In this connection, we also see hypertrophy in the left ventricle. Only this hypertrophy is created by the tension of the heart, which is a consequence of atheromatous plaques through the arteries. When the blood does not circulate freely in the arteries, the heart is forced to create the pressure needed to meet the blood transport in the body. This pressure creates hypertrophy in the heart and overexertion.

In the body, there are some balances for its proper functioning. Any exaggeration in its positive and negative field of action can bring about an imbalance proportional to the degree of exaggeration in both directions.

For example, maintaining a muscle mass twice your normal weight, almost twice—let's not get stuck there—is an unhealthy lifestyle. We could put the obese person in a similar situation. The differences are small, and we specialized in analyzing and explaining them. What counts is the final result in the state of health.