Look At Top High Blood Pressure Causes

Doctors can not tell with any certainty, but they are pointing to some of the following as potential high blood pressure causes:

  • High Salt Intake - high intake is measured at around 5.8 grams of salt daily or more.
  • Obesity
  • Race (those with African American background are at a higher risk)
  • Genetics (while the hypertension genes are not yet known, researchers are focusing on the rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which is identified with balancing salt)
  • Genetic disorders (those associated with the adrenal glands)
  • Abnormality of the arteries such as artherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.

What makes the danger of high blood pressure serious is the fact that you can have the condition for years and not know that you have it. This is the case with the common type, also called primary or essential hypertension.

If 95 percent of those who have high blood pressure have the primary kind – and thus do not know the cause of their condition - the remaining five percent have so-called secondary hypertension which means that is caused by a problem in another organ such as:

  • Aorta abnormality. This is also known as coarctation of the aorta and has been identified as the major cause of child hypertension.
  • Adrenal glands tumor. The adrenal glands are located just above the kidneys. The two adrenal tumors can cause the production of hormones which in turn produce high blood pressure.
  • Abnormality of the kidney. This is usually called renal hypertension because some defects in the kidney are causing the hypertension. This is associated with the narrowing of the artery caused by fat that are blocking the arteries.

In most cases, high blood pressure generally occurs when you have narrow arteries making blood flow difficult. In this case, the pressure in arteries is increased for blood blow to tissues and organs to continue as before. This state is what occurs in high blood pressure. As the heart becomes strained through constant pressure there is a greater chance of damage occurring to the blood vessels which causes the problem to worsen. This can affect important organs like brain and the kidneys.

But these organs can take the pressure for some time before you would notice symptoms. However after time, you would experience signs of organ problems. If untreated, hypertension can lead to kidney failure or a heart attack.

So how can you gauge if you blood pressure is still normal or already dangerous?

  • A blood pressure of 120/80 is normal
  • A blood pressure of more than the normal up to 139/80 can be consider pre-hypertension
  • A blood pressure reading that is 140/90 or over is considered high blood pressure

The upper number is called the systolic blood pressure (arteries pressure while heart is contracting and pumping blood) while the lower number is called the diastolic blood pressure (arteries pressure while the heart is at rest after a cycle of contraction and pumping).

You can greatly decrease your chance of developing high blood pressure by beginning an exercise program. Even just walking for 30 minutes, 3 times a week does a great deal to lower your risk.

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