An Overview on High Blood Pressure
Your arteries carry blood from your heart through your body. The force behind the blood is your blood pressure. As your heart beats, the pressure on your artery walls is called blood pressure. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is abnormally high pressure on your arteries. When your blood pressure ends up higher than normal and stays that way for a long time, it may cause more health problems. What causes high blood pressure? Here’s what you need to know.
Types of High Blood Pressure
There are two different types of high blood pressure. The first is primary hypertension. This is also known as essential hypertension. When this happens, it’s usually due to no known cause. This may develop over time and take many years to turn up. It’s often a result of your environment, lifestyle, and age.
The next is secondary hypertension. Secondary hypertension happens when a problem or medicine causes high blood pressure. For instance, some problems include:
- Some medications
- Kidney problems
- Sleep apnea
- Thyroid or adrenal gland problems
Fortunately, there are treatment options for all forms of high blood pressure. With the first time, a lifestyle change, along with medical treatment can help reverse high blood pressure.
Symptoms of High Blood Pressure
If you have high blood pressure, then you may not have symptoms at all. You need to have your blood pressure checked regularly to find out if you have any uses. If you experience headaches, nosebleeds or shortness of breath often, then you may have high blood pressure. Many of the symptoms may be telling of a different condition, however. It’s crucial to see a doctor regularly to find out if you have hypertension.
Causes of High Blood Pressure
Numerous factors contribute to high blood pressure. Food, lifestyle, medicine, genetics, and age can all be contributing factors.
Here are some of the factors that cause hypertension:
- Stress
- High salt, fat and cholesterol diet
- Family history of high blood pressure
- Lack of physical activity
- Birth control
- Race
- Older age
- Tobacco use
- Alcohol use
- Obesity
Any of these factors might lead to high blood pressure. This is particularly true if you have more than one risk.
High blood pressure is a very common condition among many different people. Despite how common it is, however, it can turn into a very serious condition. Often lifestyle changes can help you prevent hypertension. In order to know if you’re at risk, it’s important to have regular checkups to find out if you have high blood pressure.