Causes Of High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure can be caused by any number of factors in a
person's life or by many factors all adding together. However,
the hard truth is that if you don't control your blood
pressure, it can lead to many serious medical conditions,
including heart attack and stroke. By understanding the causes
of high blood pressure, you can learn how to prevent your
levels from exceeding the normal range and therefore promote in
yourself and your family a healthier overall lifestyle.
 
One of the major causes of high blood pressure is cholesterol.
In most cases, a person with higher than normal cholesterol
levels will also suffer from high blood pressure. This is due
to the fatty deposits left on the artery walls from the
cholesterol in your blood stream. The body actually needs no
cholesterol, since it produces enough on its own, but the foods
we eat often introduce more into our body. When no more can be
absorbed into the blood stream, the cells deposit fat onto the
walls of the arteries. This fat turns to a hard plaque, making
our blood vessels smaller and smaller over time. The same
amount of blood needs to flow through these smaller spaces,
creating a higher blood pressure.
 
An unhealthy diet also causes high blood pressure in another
way. When there is too much sugar in the blood stream. Glucose,
or blood sugar, increases due to diabetes, in which the body
does not produce the chemical that regulates blood sugar.
Ingesting food high in sugar, such as most desserts, can also
cause your blood sugar to increase, as can stress, hormone
levels, and infection. When there is more glucose in the blood
stream, your blood is essentially thicker, and harder to push
through your arteries and veins, creating a higher blood
pressure.
 
High blood pressure does not only come from an unhealthy diet,
but can also occur due to drug intake as well. People who drink
alcohol excessively, for example, increase their risk greatly of
having high blood pressure. Caffeine is another drug that is
proven to raise blood pressure, especially in combination with
nicotine, which is found in cigarettes. Many other narcotics,
especially those that are illegal in the United States, have
also been show to increase your blood pressure.
 
Genetics is a final factor in the high blood pressure battle.
Some estimate that 30% of high blood pressure cases can be
attributed, at least in part, to genetics. We do not have any
control over our genes-genetics refers to the coding used in
our bodies that produces everything from the color of our eyes
to our height to the ability we have (or do not have) to curl
our tongues. We get this genetic make-up from our parents, and
so there is nothing we can do to stop ourselves from having a
"high blood pressure" risk when we are born. However, we can
prevent genetics from playing a major role be overall living a
healthy life. By taking steps to reduce our high blood
pressure, we can create a better future for our bodies, whether
our parents suffered from high blood pressure or not. Living
this healthier lifestyle, including eating a low-cholesterol
diet, watching our sugar intake, and introducing less drugs
into our bodies can help us overcome high blood pressure.


About The Author: Paul Johnson has an interest in High Blood
Pressure. For further information on High Blood Pressure please
visit
http://www.natural-blood-pressure-reduction.com/bloodpressure.html
or
http://www.natural-blood-pressure-reduction.com/blog/2006/09/27/causes-of-high-blood-pressure/