The rise and fall of a person’s blood pressure is a natural part of how the body works. We are designed in such a way that while we sleep, rest or relax our blood pressure is lowered since our body is at ease. The opposite is also true, if we are stressed out, tense, angry or in danger our blood pressure rises to give us the extra boost we need to overcome whatever we are faced with.

However, there are millions of cases where the blood pressure is too low or too high and either extreme may be cause for concern. Here we will focus on high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) and discuss its causes.

Having high blood pressure means that there is high pressure built up in your arteries. The heart pumps blood into the arteries and the arteries carry the blood to various parts of the body. Blood is circulated through the body by pressure that is created by the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries.

Blood pressure is measured by calculating the flow of blood in relation to the resistance of the arteries. The top numbers on blood pressure machines show the pressure in the arteries as the heart contracts and pumps blood through them (systolic pressure) and the bottom numbers show the lowest level that the pressure in the arteries reaches when the heart pauses between each contraction (diastolic pressure). Normal blood pressure is considered to be anywhere between 120/80 and 139/89.

Although the causes of high blood pressure have not been directly pinpointed, there are some factors that are known to increase your chances of being affected by it including salt intake exceeding 5.8 grams per day, obesity, drinking alcohol, kidney disease and a vitamin D deficiency.

Genetics are also thought to be a major piece of the high blood pressure puzzle because many persons with high blood pressure have a particular abnormality of their arteries in common. This abnormality results in less elastic, more resistant arteries further away from the heart. It is not known what causes this resistance but it is more common in individuals who are obese, have high salt intake, or who lack exercise.

Prolonged high blood pressure puts persons at risk of developing several other complications such as hardening of the arteries, stroke, kidney disease, heart attack or heart disease and eye problems such as blurred vision or narrowing of the retinas.

High blood pressure is often not diagnosed until it is in an advanced stage because in its early stages, it shows very minor or no symptoms at all. As it gets more and more critical, some symptoms can be nausea, headaches, seizures and lethargy.

There are several things that you can do to prevent or control high blood pressure. Regular exercise and the elimination of alcohol and tobacco have been proven to reduce the blood pressure. Dietary changes such as reducing salt and sugar intake have also proven helpful in lowering the blood pressure.