Tall people have been shown to be more likely to get cancer. Are they also more likely to get Covid? If so, why? A study from Oxford finds a higher prevalence of Covid-19 among people who are more than six feet tall. I wonder if this could have something to do with blood pressure and angiotensin.
I have suffered from orthostatic intolerance issues and POTS since moving out of a moldy house in 2014. If I stand up swiftly or for too long, it can feel as if I am going to lose consciousness.
I am average height (female, 5’5″). A person who is 4 feet tall vs. a person who is 7 feet tall: if each has normal blood pressure, they will both test as approximately 120/80. But wouldn’t the tall person’s blood pressure actually be higher, sub-clinically (behind the scenes)?
Lately it feels as if I do not have enough angiotensin. I want to vaso-constrict, but there seems to be some metric my brain is reading where it will not let me.
When blood moves through my body, it is not merely from the force created by the heart, the pump. It’s not like a strongman game at a carnival, where you ring a bell by hitting a target with a hammer and that gets it done. There is also peripheral resistance all along the way.
If I vaso-constrict, I can increase the pressure in the system. Vasoconstriction increases the pressure from the outside. But I can also increase the pressure from the inside, by increasing the size of my RBCs. One way or another, I need peripheral resistance. When my circulation functions most efficiently, the tightness of the blood vessels and the size of the RBCs are in line.
Perhaps, the taller I am, the more angiotensin I need along the way to help the blood get where it needs to be.
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