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| Question | Answer |
| B1a - Fitness and Health | Arteries carry blood away from the heart. Blood in the arteries is under pressure because of the contractions of the heart muscles. This allows the blood to reach all parts of the body. |
| Blood Pressure | Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury. This is written as mmHg. Blood pressure has two measurements: systolic pressure is the maximum pressure the heart produces and diastolic pressure is the blood pressure between heart beats. |
| Factors that increase blood pressure | - smoking - being overweight - drinking a lot of alcohol - stress. |
| Effects of high/low blood pressure | High blood pressure can cause: kidney damage burst blood vessels damage to the brain, including strokes. Low blood pressure can cause dizziness, fainting and poor blood circulation. |
| Fitness / Health | Fitness - is the ability to do physical activity. Health - is being free from diseases |
| Smoking | Smoking increases blood pressure. -Carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke causes the blood to carry less oxygen. - It combines with haemoglobin in red blood cells, preventing oxygen combining with the haemoglobin. -This causes an increase in heart rate to compensate for the reduced amount of oxygen carried in the blood. |
| Heart diseases | Heart diseases is caused by a restricted blood flow to the heart muscle. The risk of getting a heart disease is increased by: - a high level of saturated fat in the diet, which leads to a build up of cholesterol (a plaque) in arteries. - a high level of salt, which increases blood pressures. |
| Continue | The narrowing of the arteries caused by plaques in the coronary arteries can reduce blood flow to heart muscles. The plaques also make blood clots more likely to happen, which will also block the artery. |