How is your blood pressure constantly changing when you presumably have a relatively fixed amount of blood in a fixed amount of vein?

Question

I get that your heart can pump harder and whatnot, but when it’s a fairly closed system pumping the same blood around how does that actually increase the pressure?

In: 12

Answer 1

Take a standard straw. Have two glasses filled equally, one with water and the other with a milk shake that won’t pour out if held upside down.

Now attempt to drink both with the same force.

In the body, you don’t have significant changes in blood thickness. But there are medicines which act primarily to thin the blood.

The more approximate test would be to have one straw that is clean and another that has gunk all over the inside, then try to drink a mostly melted shake. But I can’t think of an easy way to gunk up the sides of a straw that isn’t gross.

Answer 2

Take a standard straw. Have two glasses filled equally, one with water and the other with a milk shake that won’t pour out if held upside down.

Now attempt to drink both with the same force.

In the body, you don’t have significant changes in blood thickness. But there are medicines which act primarily to thin the blood.

The more approximate test would be to have one straw that is clean and another that has gunk all over the inside, then try to drink a mostly melted shake. But I can’t think of an easy way to gunk up the sides of a straw that isn’t gross.