Beta Blockers – Fight weight and control High blood pressure
Although you can find this article loaded with many scientific and medical terms, however, it’s crucial to know all these as it can help you better understand the mechanism of how beta blockers help lower your blood pressure.
What are Beta Blockers?
Beta blockers (beta-blocker) are drugs and as such they are used for various indications. They are particularly helpful in the management of cardiac-arrhythmia, cardio-protection after heart attack (myocardial infarction), and High blood pressure (Hypertension).
Propranolol, is the first beta adrenergic receptor antagonist, used for clinical purposes.
Beta blockers are designed to block three known types of beta receptors: beta1, beta2 and beta3.
- beta1-Adrenergic receptors are located mainly in the heart and in the kidneys.
- beta2-Adrenergic receptors are located mainly in the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, liver, uterus, vascular smooth muscle, and skeletal muscle.
- beta3-receptors are located in fat cells.
How beta-receptors work?
- When beta1 receptors are stimulated, epinephrine induces a positive chrono-tropic and ino-tropic effect on the heart. That way cardiac conduction velocity and automaticity are increased. ?1 receptors stimulation also causes to release of rennin in the kidney.
- When beta2 receptors are stimulated, it helps to smooth muscle relaxation, induces tremor in skeletal muscle, and increases glycol-genolysis process (cleavage of glucose) in the liver and skeletal muscle.
- Beta3 receptors help to Lipolysis (the breakdown of fat stored in fat cells).
How beta blockers work?
Although, Beta blockers inhibit these normal epinephrine-mediated sympathetic actions, they have minimal effect on resting subjects.
Beta blocker medications reduce the effect of excitement:
- They reduce physical exertion and force of contraction on heart
- They help to dilation of blood vessels and help open bronchi
- They also reduce tremor and breakdown of glycogen
Non-selective beta blockers are characterized by antihypertensive effect.
How the antihypertensive mechanisms of beta blockers work?
Beta blockers reduce a cardiac output (due to negative chrono-tropic and ino-tropic effects) and they reduce the release of rennin from the kidneys.
At the same time, a central nervous system significantly reduces (for those beta-blockers that do cross the blood-brain barrier, e.g. Propranolol) Sympathetic activity (always active at a basal level, called sympathetic tone, and which becomes more active during times of stress and comprise the fight-or-flight response.)
Like any other medicine, even these have various adverse effects.
To reduce side effects and make them more human body friendly, scientists are now looking for natural replacements and substitutes for the beta blockers. The latest studies in the field, have found that several natural resources can be as helpful in reducing of high blood pressure as beta-blocker medications used today.
Read more about What Are Beta Blockers and Beta Blockers Natural substitutes