Did you know that you can have high blood pressure for years without noticing any symptoms? I didn’t either. But, what I found out was that high blood pressure that is uncontrolled can increase your risk of a heart or stroke, or other serious health problems. It can occur when the force of the blood against your artery walls is strong enough that it may eventually cause health problems as mentioned above.
Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to the blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure. It typically takes many years for high blood pressure to develop, and eventually affects almost everyone.
The good news is that high blood pressure can easily be diagnosed. Once you realize you have high blood pressure, you and your doctor can work together to control it.
Here are some risk factors of high blood pressure:
Age. The older we get, the more likely we will develop high blood pressure. High blood pressure is more common in men through early middle age. However, women are more likely to develop high blood pressure after menopause.
Family history. If your parents or grandparents have high blood pressure, you are more likely to develop it as well. It’s always a good idea to know at least the basic health history of those family members so that you know what to watch out for.
Racial heritage. Numerous studies have shown that African Americans often develop high blood pressure at an earlier age than whites. They also are at a higher risk of stroke and heart attack than Caucasians.
Obesity. The more you weigh the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. As the volume of blood circulating through your blood vessels increases, so does the pressure on your artery walls.
Physical inactivity. The less active you are, the higher heart rate you may have, which causes your heart to work much harder. You may also be at risk to become obese which will also increase stress to your heart.
These are just a few of the risk factors of high blood pressure. If you believe you are at risk, make sure you talk to your primary care physician and obtain a complete list of all the risk factors. There are several ways to help control or reduce your blood pressure, and you doctor can suggest the best treatment for you.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Jason Jack // Feb 1, 2012 at 10:46 am
I loss my grandma because of high blood pressure..I love her so much that I cried so hard in her burial..i kept on asking my mom about the cause of her death, and the only thing i remember is the word “high blood”.
2 Edie // Feb 1, 2012 at 11:29 am
Jason, people don’t understand how dangerous and deadly high blood pressure can be. I was shocked at what I was reading when I researched this article. It actually kind of scared me because my blood pressure has risen over the last couple of years of taking care of my dad.
3 Gregg Evans // Feb 2, 2012 at 10:53 pm
I remember people from our place call it “A Traitor disease” I’ve known many people mostly around 45 and above years of age died from “High Blood” unexpectedly.
We must be always conscious of our health.
4 Edie // Feb 3, 2012 at 10:56 am
I’ve of high blood pressure being called a traitor disease but never understood it meant a traitor to your own body until I researched this article. Interesting tag.
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