Cause of High Blood Pressure

There are two main types of high blood pressure: essential and secondary hypertension. About 95 percent of patients with hypertension have essential hypertension. We believe that most cases of essential hypertension are caused by lifestyle, obesity, excessive stress and nutritional deficiencies. Secondary hypertension, on the other hand, is usually caused by kidney disease, medications and drugs and adrenal disorders. That, however, is rare, only affecting about 5 percent of people with hypertension.

Are You at Risk?
Even though the actual cause of high blood pressure is unknown, ris factors can dramatically increase your chances of developing t. You have a great deal of control over some of these ris factors, but not all. It's impossible to have control over some risk factors. Listed below are some of them.

Risk Factors You Cannot Control

Your family history
If both of your parents had high blood pressure, there is a 60 percent chance that you will develop it. If only one parent had hypertension, you still have a 35 percent chance of developing it yourself.

Your sex
Before age fifty, men are more likely to develop hypertension. However, after age fifty, hypentension is more common in women than in men.

Your age
As you get older, your risk of developing hypertension increases.

Your race
African American develop hypertension twice as often as whites. Mexicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans are also more prone to develop hypertension.

Secondary Causes of High Blood Pressure
Secondary hypertension can be cured most of the time. Causes of secondary hypertension include kidney disease and renal arteries stenosis, which is a narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys.

Since most high blood pressure falls under the category of essential hypertension, we will focus on modifying the risk factors that we can control.

Here's a list of main risk factors:

• Obesity
• Inactivity
• Stress
• Lifestyle factors
• Alcohol
• Smoking
• Nutritional factors

By modifying these risk factors, you should be able to control the majority of cases of mild and moderate hypertension.

Before you begin to make changes, it's very important to have a comprehensive physical exam that includes blood work, urinalysis and an EKG. Make sure that your doctor rules out any secondary causes of hypertension.