Ironically while we know that hypertension can kill, we don't know why it happens. In 95 percent of cases, there is no underlying cause - the reason why it's called primary or essential hypertension. In the remaining 5 percent of cases, the problem can be traced to kidney or heart disease and is known as secondary hypertension.
Who is most likely to develop hypertension? People often believe that high blood pressure is caused by extreme tension or nervousness. In truth, there is no hypertensive personality. Stress can make your blood pressure rise but this will return to normal once your problem is over. Those with hypertension always have high readings even if they're not doing anything.
Blood pressure tends to rise as a person gets older but aging is not a primary factor. The more common risk factors for hypertension are the following:
Race
Blacks are more likely to develop high blood pressure than whites.
Heredity
If your parents are hypertensive, chances are you. "There is a genetic background," according to Dr. Gianfranco Parati, a member of the executive board of the Journal of Hypertension, the official publication of the International Society of Hypertension and the European Society of Hypertension. "If people in your family have hypertension, that puts you at high risk and you have to be properly evaluated."
Weight
Obesity increases your risk of high blood pressure. If you're 30 percent or more above the ideal body weight for your height, age, and sex, you're in trouble.
Excessive salt intake
Too much salt in your diet can make your blood pressure soar, especially if you're salt-sensitive
which is true in 5 to 10 percent of hypertensives.
Heavy smoking and drinking
These bad habits can wreak havoc on your blood pressure. Nicotine raises blood pressure and increases your risk of having a stroke or heart attack. The same is true with alcohol which is responsible for 5 percent of all cases of hypertension.
Oral contraceptives
The use of birth control pills may affect your blood pressure. This normally occurs in overweight women whose parents are hypertensive. Other drugs that affect blood pressure are steroid hormones, appetite suppressants, nose drops, and antidepressants.
Lack of exercise
Sitting around most of the time can make you obese and a candidate for hypertension.
Pregnancy
Some pregnant women develop hypertension because of the additional strain placed by this condition upon the heart.
Stress
While tension and stress don't directly cause hypertension, they can aggravate the problem. Most hypertensives have Type A personality - they're aggressive, hostile, frustrated, and angry. This causes your body to release a lot of adrenaline which forces the heart to work harder. The result is increased blood pressure. (Next: How to beat hypertension.)
Since obesity is a factor in hypertension, it pays to lose weight. To help you shed those unwanted pounds, take Zyroxin, a safe and natural supplement that will maximize your weight loss through its unique fat-burning ingredients.
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