Table of contents:
- What does hemoglobin do?
- Various causes of high hemoglobin
- 1. Dehydration
- 2. Located in the highlands
- 3. Smoking
- 4. Congenital heart disease
- 5. Taking hormone-enhancing drugs
- 6. Emphysema
Maybe you just had a complete blood count. In these results, it states if your hemoglobin level is high enough. In fact, there are many things that can affect the hemoglobin level in the body. So, to make it clear, the following are the various causes of high hemoglobin.
What does hemoglobin do?
Before knowing why hemoglobin levels are high, it is better if you understand the function of hemoglobin first. Hemoglobin is a protein molecule found in red blood cells. This molecule is responsible for binding oxygen from the lungs to all body tissues and bringing back carbon dioxide from these tissues to the lungs.
Hemoglobin also plays an important role in maintaining the shape of red blood cells. The shape of the red blood cells is almost similar to a donut, which is round and flat in the middle, but does not have a hole in the middle. The abnormal structure of hemoglobin can change the shape of red blood cells and inhibit their function and flow in blood vessels.
High or low hemoglobin levels may occur in everyone. However, you should first know the normal hemoglobin range, which depends on age and gender.
- Newborns: 17 to 22 gm / dL
- One week old baby: 15 to 20 gm / dL
- One month old baby: 11 to 15 gm / dL
- Children: 11 to 13 gm / dL
- Adult men: 14 to 18 gm / dL
- Adult women: 12 to 16 gm / dL
- Middle-aged men: 12.4 to 14.9 gm / dL
- Middle-aged women: 11.7 to 13.8 gm / dL
If your blood test results show a high hemoglobin level, then you may have a certain health problem.
Various causes of high hemoglobin
1. Dehydration
If you have been drinking less, this could be the reason why your hemoglobin levels are increasing. This is because when you are dehydrated, your blood plasma volume will automatically increase. Now, when the volume of blood plasma increases, the amount of hemoglobin in it also increases.
Dehydration can occur if you are dehydrated or have diarrhea, which forces you to waste a lot of fluids in your body. Overcome this condition by consuming lots of fluids. If you consume lots of water and you have met your body's fluid needs, your hemoglobin levels will return to normal.
2. Located in the highlands
High hemoglobin levels can also occur if you are at a high altitude, for example on a mountain peak. When at high altitudes, hemoglobin levels tend to increase because red blood cells also naturally increase.
The increase that occurs in red blood cells is the body's attempt to compensate for the increasingly limited oxygen intake up there. Therefore, the higher the mountain you climb, the more likely it is that your hemoglobin levels will increase when climbing the mountain.
However, your body will try to adapt to situations and conditions when it is at high altitudes. So, if you are for a long time at the top of a mountain or at a high altitude, the hemoglobin level in the body will gradually decrease.
3. Smoking
Smoking habits also have an impact on hemoglobin levels in the body. The more often you smoke, the higher the increase in hemoglobin levels in the body.
This happens because when smoking, hemoglobin instead of taking the oxygen the body needs, it binds to the carbon monoxide in cigarettes. At that time, the body feels panic, signals low oxygen levels, because hemoglobin is not bound. Thus, the body eventually increases hemoglobin levels in response to these conditions.
Male smokers have hemoglobin levels that are much different from hemoglobin levels in nonsmokers. Meanwhile, female smokers who are in their 30s have almost the same hemoglobin levels as nonsmokers.
However, female smokers who are over 40 years of age have significantly higher hemoglobin levels than nonsmokers.
Although there is no clear explanation regarding the relationship between smoking and hemoglobin levels, it is seen that active smokers have a higher average hemoglobin level compared to the average hemoglobin level of passive smokers.
If this condition is allowed, the ability of hemoglobin to detect anemia in the body decreases. A study suggests that to avoid increasing hemoglobin levels in the body, reduce smoking habits.
What's more, this habit not only raises the hemoglobin level but also exerts a mask effect, which makes it difficult for hemoglobin to detect anemia.
4. Congenital heart disease
Congenital heart disease is a disorder that occurs in the structure of the heart, which sufferers have experienced since birth. This condition occurs mostly in newborns. This condition forms or develops when the baby is still in the mother's stomach.
This disease can cause various disorders of blood circulation, such as too much blood flowing from the lungs, too little blood flowing by the lungs, or too little blood flowing throughout the body.
This condition causes the possibility of an increase in the hemoglobin level in the body. This is because the body tries to maximize the oxygen levels in the blood needed by the body.
5. Taking hormone-enhancing drugs
The Mayo Clinic states that taking drugs to increase hormones can also trigger an increase in hemoglobin levels in the body. Among these are drugs such as anabolic steroids or erythropoietin.
Erythropoietin is a type of drug used to increase hormones that can cure anemia in people with kidney disease. Erythropoietin can increase the production of red blood cells and hemoglobin.
Automatically, taking this drug can cause high hemoglobin due to increased levels in the body. Athletes usually take this drug to increase oxygen levels in the muscles, thereby maximizing their performance in sports.
6. Emphysema
Emphysema is a lung problem that causes shortness of breath. Usually, the air sacs of people with emphysema are damaged.
From time to time, the inner wall of the air sac weakens and creates a large hole in the sac. When the patient breathes the incoming air, the air sacs do not work properly, so the air inside is trapped and cannot get out, while the new air that is about to enter has no space.
This causes the amount of oxygen that reaches the sufferer's bloodstream to decrease. Finally, so that the body does not lack oxygen, naturally the hemoglobin level will increase.
