Hypertension – High Blood Pressure Risk Factors
High blood pressure has many risk factors. Some you can’t control. Most important risk factors of Hypertension or High Blood Pressure given below:
Age: The risk of high blood pressure increases as you get older. Though early middle age, high blood pressure is move common in men. Women are more likely to develop high blood pressure after menopause.
Race: High blood pressure is particularly common among blacks, often developing at an earlier age than it does in whites. Serious complications, such as stroke and heart attack, also are more common blacks.
Family history: High blood pressure tends to run in families. Other risk factors for high blood pressure are within your control.
Excess weight: The greater your body mass, the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. As the volume of blood circulated through your blood vessels increases, so does the pressure on your artery walls.
Inactivity: People who are inactive tend to have higher heart rates. The higher your heart rate, the harder your heart must work with each contraction – and the stronger the force on your arteries. Lack of physical activity also increases the risk of being overweight.
Tobacco use: The chemical in tobacco can damage the lining of your artery walls, which promotes narrowing of the arteries.
Sodium intake: Too much sodium in your diet especially if you have sodium sensitivity – can lead to fluid retention and increased blood pressure.
Low potassium intake: Potassium helps balance the amount of sodium in your cells. If you don’t consume or retain enough potassium, you may accumulate too much sodium in your blood.
Excessive alcohol: Over time, heavy drinking, can damage your heart.
Stress: High levels of stress can lead to a temporary but dramatic increase in blood pressure. If you try to relax by eating more, using tobacco or drinking alcohol, you may only fuel problems with high blood pressure. Certain chronic conditions also may increase your risk of high blood pressure, including high cholesterol, diabetes, kidney disease and sleep apnea. Sometimes pregnancy contributes to high blood pressure.
Other risk factors of Hypertension or High Blood Pressure:
Hypertension or High Blood pressure over many years can cause health problems, and the whole point of measuring Blood pressure regularly, and treating it effectively if it is high, is to prevent these complications. However, you are more likely to develop these complications if you smoke and if you have untreated high blood cholesterol levels.
The reason is that smoking damages blood vessels in much the same way as high Blood pressure, making them narrower and their lining thick and rough. High cholesterol can cause fatty deposits called arthromeres in the lining of the artery to develop more rapidly than normal, which also helps to narrow the arteries. It is not possible for your level of serum cholesterol to be too low, and treatment to lower cholesterol saves lives.
Another common risk factor that can also contribute to narrowing of the arteries is diabetes (diabetes mellitus), which affects 4 to 5 percent of the population and a greater proportion of the indigenous population. High glucose levels in the blood damage arteries in a similar way as high Blood pressure. But it would not do to paint too gloomy a picture. Its better to have your Blood pressure checked than feel sorry at a later stage.
