Let's talk about hypertension in terms that "Birddogers" can understand. As you Army Birddogers understand, I'm trying to help out our Air Force and Marine friends. This is a subject that is important to everyone and gains in importance as we get older and our "pipes" get rusty. I'll try to give basic examples and principles to help you understand.

Blood pressure is the force at which the blood in your body is being pushed through the arteries. I will put this into terms that even Marines can understand. A normal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg. The number on the top (the bigger number) is the systolic (sis-tall-ik) pressure and the bottom number is the diastolic (di-uh-stall-ik) pressure.

In the universe (this includes Birddogs and Birddogers), there are two things that are the major factors in the flow of fluids..........THE PUMP & THE PIPES. In any system, increasing the work of the pump can increase the pressure in the system. Another way to increase the pressure is to increase the resistance of the pipes (you can make the pipes smaller or make more pipes). You guessed it! (I think even the Marines figured this out.) Your heart is the pump and your arteries are the pipes! So, these are the two main factors in the measurement of your blood pressure. IN
GENERAL....................the systolic pressure measures the force of your heart and the diastolic pressure measures the resistance of your arteries.

Hypertension is the medical term that is known as high blood pressure. Once again, in general, you have hypertension when your systolic pressure is higher than 140 mmHg or your diastolic is over 90 mmHg. It states that your heart is beating with too much force or your blood vessels have too much resistance. An elevated blood pressure can damage vessels and cause a stroke, heart attack, kidney disease, heart disease, etc.

THE HEART:

This is a very simple concept. If the heart has to beat with increased force
(ie. elevate the systolic pressure), the heart can become damaged or just
plain give out (heart attack). The muscle can become damaged and then you
don't have the force necessary to carry blood to all of your organs.

THE VESSELS:

There are several ways that you can increase the resistance of the vessels.
Too much cholesterol can collect in the "tubes." Anxiety or stress can make
you "clamp down" on the vessels. SMOKING is a major cause of vessel
constriction. All of these things make the heart pump with more force to get
the same job done. The final result is heart damage. "Angina" is heart
(muscle) pain because there isn't enough blood flow and oxygen to the heart.
This doesn't even count the constriction of the vessels of the heart (which
can have an immediate result of heart attack). We all know someone who has
had a cardiac "bypass." All of the organs (brain, kidneys, eyes, etc.) can
be adversely affected.

THE BODY:

The bigger the body, the more effort is required by the heart to transport
the blood to all of the parts. Muscle actually helps, in a way, by helping
to pump or push the blood, through the veins, back to the heart. "Flab" or
fat doesn't help at all.

Birddog Solution!...........................

1. Get in shape. This helps your heart in many ways. The heart is a muscle
and responds to appropriate exercise like other muscles. It also develops
muscles in the legs. Remember, especially these muscle help to push blood
back to the heart through the veins.

2. Eat healthy and see if you can decrease your cholesterol. You don't want
to clog up your arteries. This leads to hypertension and heart attacks.

3. Take off some weight. This will make you feel better and there will be
less "mass" for your heart and vessels to service.

4. STOP SMOKING! I can't say enough about this. You have 60 times more of a chance to get cancer and even more problems with you vessels and heart.

5. Limit stress. This is almost an oxymoron in this life. Stress does
cause you to clamp down on the blood vessels and elevate the blood pressure.

6. Take one aspirin a day if you can. This "thins" your blood to make it
flow easier.

7. This one will be of interest. A glass of wine (the word is "a") is
supposed to be good for your heart and circulation.

As we get older (and we all are), we naturally tend to develop hypertension. Our"pipes" get a little rusty and our heart starts to gradually wear out. Let's do all we can to NOT help that process along.

Fly Safe! REX 79

Written for Birddog owners by Dr. Steve Frushour, IBDA Aero-Medical Officer