You might be curious to know if blood sugar levels and blood pressure are related. After all, many people who have diabetes also tend to suffer from high blood pressure. Let us try to understand how these two physical conditions are related to each other.
What is blood sugar?
The term blood sugar refers to the concentration of glucose present in the blood. The levels of blood sugar can be examined by comparing the results of blood sugar test with standardized charts. Blood sugar levels that are higher than the standard level indicate diabetes. =
Insulin is responsible for converting sugar in the blood stream into food for the cell, which is fuel for the body. In the case of diabetes, with increased blood sugar levels, the body fails to use the increased amount of sugar produced in the blood properly. This is because the body fails to produce enough insulin hormone or does not use the insulin effectively.
What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is a particular measure of the force, which is used by the heart for pumping the blood all around the body. Based on the blood vessels’ contraction, the blood pressure in the body varies. The higher the contraction, more elevated will be the blood pressure.
How are blood sugar and blood pressure connected with each other?
Among the three types of blood pressure: high blood pressure, normal or ideal blood pressure and low blood pressure, it is the high blood pressure that has a connection with elevated diabetic blood sugar level.
Diabetes or sugar levels that are higher than those indicated in standardized blood sugar levels chart predispose the arteries to atherosclerosis or make the blood passage space inside the artery tubes narrower. And it is by adversely affecting the arteries that diabetes gives rise to high blood pressure.
How to control both?
To control high blood pressure, one needs to focus on how to control blood sugar. This is because the increase in blood sugar levels causes a high blood pressure. This complication, in turn, can give rise to heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, kidney failure, and other serious health conditions.
Hence, managing blood pressure is an important part of a person’s overall diabetes blood sugar control measures.