{"id":13978,"date":"2018-12-30T16:52:48","date_gmt":"2018-12-30T11:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=13978"},"modified":"2018-12-30T16:52:48","modified_gmt":"2018-12-30T11:22:48","slug":"winter-increases-risk-of-high-blood-pressure-warns-doctors-association-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=13978","title":{"rendered":"Winter increases risk of high blood pressure, warns Doctors Association Kashmir"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong><i>\u201cCold weather hikes blood pressure which increases the risk of fatal heart Attacks and strokes,\u201d<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><i>Srinagar, Dec 30:<\/i><\/strong><i> As Kashmir Valley is reeling under an intense cold wave with temperatures dipping below freezing point, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Sunday warned that chill of winter increases the risk of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cCold weather hikes blood pressure which increases the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes,\u201d said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cVarious studies have shown falling temperatures to cause rise in blood pressure,\u201d he said.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>Quoting a large study from France, Dr Nisar said rates of high blood pressure rose from 23.8 percent in summer to 33.4 percent in winter.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cBlood pressure increases were seen in both the systolic (top) and diastolic (bottom) numbers,\u201d he said adding that \u201cthe spike was seen in hypertensive as well as normotensive subjects.\u201d<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cOne degree centigrade decrease in temperature was associated with rise of 1.3 mm Hg in systolic and 0.6 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure,\u201d Dr Nisar quoted another study.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>He said frigid temperatures constrict blood vessels which increase blood pressure because more pressure is needed to force blood through narrowed vessels.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cLack of sunlight during winter reduces vitamin D levels which increases blood pressure,\u201d he added.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>He further said people are sedentary in winter, staying inside and eating more that causes weight gain which contributes to hypertension.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cWhile we can\u2019t change the weather, we can take precautions to manage our blood pressure in winter. Keep yourself warm to prevent from cold temperature. If you move out, dress in layers, wear a hat, gloves and scarf. Avoid going in chill for walk and move your workout inside. Reduce your salt intake and take diet rich in vegetables and fruits. And, don\u2019t forget to take your vitamin D,\u201d advised Dr Nisar.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cFar too many people don\u2019t know that their blood pressure is high. We need to make sure that people know their number,\u201d he said.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>\u201cBecause hypertension is an asymptomatic disease people don\u2019t manage it, they turn up years later with kidneys gone and their eyes are bad,\u201d said Dr Nisar.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cCold weather hikes blood pressure which increases the risk of fatal heart Attacks and strokes,\u201d Srinagar, Dec 30: As Kashmir Valley is reeling under an intense cold wave with temperatures dipping below freezing point, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Sunday warned that chill of winter increases the risk of high blood pressure, also known as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}