What Causes High Blood Pressure?

We all know that elevated or high blood pressure is bad for your health, it can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and early death. You may not fully understand the scientific reasons that causes high blood pressure and in fact in 90 to 95% of hypertension cases, the cause is unknown, BUT you do know that there are certain changes you can make in your life to reduce and normalize blood pressure. Researchers have identified 5 RISK FACTORS that causes high blood pressure. Let's take a look at what they are and what you can do to lower your risk! High blood pressure cause #1: Weight & Bad Diet. It is important to note that what you currently eat (and ate in your childhood) can have a massive difference on blood pressure. A poor diet has consistently been linked to hypertension. Excess weight - is another major contributor to high BP. If you are overweight- then losing weight is a sensible first step in treating high blood pressure. Reduce the amount of fats, oils, sugar and salt in your diet and increase the amount of fruit and vegetables, cereal and fish. High blood pressure cause # 2: Stress. This is very often mentioned as a risk factor for high BP. If you are in a highly stressful environment at home or at work your BP will suffer. You need to find methods that help you relax and switch off which will help lower your BP. This can be a hobby such as photography, writing, gardening. Consider Yoga, Tai Chi, meditation or other stress-reducing techniques. High blood pressure cause #3: Alcohol. Heavy or regular use of alcohol is another known cause for elevated blood pressure. Reducing alcohol intake can often reduce high BP without the need for any drug treatment, that is how powerful reducing or eliminating alcohol from our lives is. High blood pressure cause # 4: Lack of Physical Activity. An inactive lifestyle is one of the reasons for obesity which results in increased BP. Physical Activity will also reduce your stress and lower your BP. High blood pressure cause # 5: Genes. High BP seems to run in families and accounts for about half of High Blood Pressure Sufferers. Knowing how to prevent high BP is therefore important. By keeping an eye on all of the above mentioned risks, it will help reduce the risk of developing high BP. These are just the basics you need to know about the causes of high blood pressure and to better educate yourself to a more healthier life. However I hope that you are interested enough to know more and how to treat it successfully. Just as family doctors can't look after you 100% all the time if they are completely unaware of your everyday living, so you can't interpret their advice properly if you are completely ignorant of the nature of your high BP and what can and cannot be done about it with natural remedies or drug treatments. If not, your alternative is to let doctors make the decisions for you without your help or informed consent for the rest of your life.