Problem And Cause

Problem
One in there American men has high blood pressure. Specifically a health concern of men, African-Americans, and Southerners, high blood pressure can prematurely tire out your heart as well as damage artery walls. When your blood surges through your vessels, it erodes material from your artery walls, much the same way a river slowly erodes its bed. Your immune cells rush in to repair the damage, leaving a thick, hard paste behind. This clogs your arteries, making your heart beat harder to squeeze blood through a narrower opening, further damaging your arteries.

Blood pressure is measured with two numbers: the systolic and the diastolic (the low number). The systolic measures how hard your heart mush beat to pump blood through your body. The diastolic measures the pressure when your heart relaxes between contractions. A pressure reading of 120/80 is considered optimal, and 140/90 is viewed as high.

Cause
Blame your age and your narrowed arteries. As you get older, your arteries naturally get more ridged, making your heart beat harder. Also, years of high-fat foods have upped levels of blood cholesterol, which irritate your artery lining, resulting in plaque buildup. Drugs such as nicotine can also constrict arteries. The less room blood has to flow through, the more the heart has to push to move the heart has to push to move the blood along. If your heart has to pump through pipes the size of the Hudson River, it doesn't have to push much to get the blood out. But if your heart has to push blood through something the size of the lead in a pencil, it's going to push pretty hard. Stress also can make blood pressure soar by dumping heart-stimulating hormones into your system.