Atherosclerosis is the buildup of plaque along the arterial
walls. As plaque accumulates, the gap within the lumen of the blood vessel
becomes increasingly small. Just as a
drain is clog, little material is able to pass through the clogged region.
A
clogged artery or vein can be a serious and life threatening scenario. When a
blood vessel is clogged, oxygenated blood is unable to pass through to provide
fresh oxygen to the tissues of the body.
Symptoms
of dizziness, easy fatigue, and lapse in judgment can be signs of the lack of
oxygen to the brain. Ever whether why boxing or sports movies have the coach or
medical staff asking the person that just got knocked out, "How many
fingers am I holding up?" When cells in the tissue of any part of the body
lacks oxygen, they lose their effectiveness and functionality.
In the
brain, the central and peripheral nervous system cooperates to help control
your body. While the central nervous system consists of primarily the brain and
spinal cord, the peripheral nervous system contains the cranial and spinal
nerves.
In addition, the peripheral nervous system is
further broken down into either somatic or autonomic nervous system. The
somatic nervous system is responsible for controlling the physical movement of
the body through skeletal muscles. Meanwhile, the autonomic nervous system is
responsible for controlling everything else. Atherosclerosis is genuinely most
influenced by the autonomic nervous system.
The
autonomic nervous system can be categorized into sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous system. There is
a common approach when defining which nervous system is in action when it is
defined as either "fight or
flight" and "rest and digest".
The following video provides a clear insight
about the brain and the nervous system:
In
basic terms, the nervous systems receives a signal, analyzes it and responds accordingly.
In a more detailed perspective, when the
body needs to run away from a tiger the sympathetic nervous system will kick
into fight or flight response and increase heart rate to allow more oxygenated
blood to reach skeletal muscles and promote movement. Meanwhile, the parasympathetic nervous system
responsible for rest and digest will slow down and restrict blood flow sent
towards the digestive tract.
Conversely,
if the individual is sitting down and eating lunch they will slow down their
sympathetic nervous system and increase their parasympathetic nervous system. Henceforth, when a blood vessel is clogged the
autonomic nervous can influence the severity of slowing down blood flow.
For
instance, if a water hose is clogged, but is still able to slowly churn out
water is then squeezed, then the already restricted water flow will cease to
exist. The same scenario exists within blood vessels during high pressures
created from stress or high heart rate. Unfortunately, individuals with high
stress and hypertension will further increase their likelihood of having a
stroke even with a less severe case of atherosclerosis.
Fortunately, bypass surgery exists for those
with clogged arteries that are life threatening, but a more permanent solution
should be developed to prevent atherosclerosis. Among the different types of
medical treatments, awareness accompanied by a healthy diet and regular
exercise will greatly reduce the buildup of plaque is the best solution.
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Korczak DJ, Goldstein
BI, Levitt AJ. Panic disorder, cardiac diagnosis and emergency department
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3.
Chen YH, Tsai SY, Lee
HC, Lin HC. Increased risk of acute myocardial infarction for patients with
panic disorder: a nationwide population-based study. Psychosom Med 2009;71:798–804.
4.
Bystritsky A, Craske
M, Maidenberg E, Vapnik T, Shapiro D. Ambulatory monitoring of panic patients
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