Sudden High Blood Pressure Explained

The heart muscles supply blood to the arteries, which in turn passes the blood to the rest of the body. When the muscles of the heart contracts, the pressure of the blood increases and it flows into the arteries. This is known as the systolic (high) blood pressure and after every contraction; the heart relaxes, leading to decrease in the pressure, known as diastolic (low) blood pressure. The blood pressure level in a healthy person is usually 120/80 mmHg. When the blood pressure level increases to 140/90 mmHg or more, the person is said to have high blood pressure or hypertension. Dangers of this include various health problems and it is essential to treat this condition promptly.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

The causes of this can be attributed to two main reasons. Sometimes, people have this pressure as an effect of some other disease or health problem. This kind is called secondary hypertension. Some of the ailments that can cause this are chronic kidney disease, alcohol addiction, adrenal gland disorders, pregnancy, thyroid dysfunction, etc. In such cases, this can be cured by treating the disease that caused it. However, the type of blood pressure which is commonly seen in people is called the primary hypertension. No single reason can be determined for a person having primary hypertension. Rather the variety of factors that causes this can be divided into unalterable causes and those that can be changed.

Causes

    * One of the most common reasons for this is age. As one becomes older, the arteries become harder, thus leading to high blood pressure. This stiffening of the blood vessels is called as arteriosclerosis.  It is also said that African Americans are more at risk of developing this than the white people. This shows that the chances of this can be determined by the race in which one is born.
    * Studies have shown that even socioeconomic status can influence the occurrence of high blood pressure in a person. It is said that people who belong to the lower socioeconomic groups and those who are less educated are more at risk of having hypertension.
    * Hereditary is also believed to be one of the causes for high blood pressure. If a person's parents or grandparents suffer from this problem, there is a high chance of it affecting him/her. Other than heredity, even gender plays a role in this. Statistics have shown that men are more likely to develop it than women. These are some of the factors that cannot be controlled by humans. However, there are some other reasons for hypertension that are caused due to behavior and lifestyle of human beings.
    * One of the most common causes of high blood pressure that is found nowadays is obesity. People who are overweight have more chance of having this disease. It is caused due to faulty eating habits and lack of physical exercise. Obesity in a person can be calculated by measuring the body mass index of the person. People who have a BMI that is more than 30 kg/m2 are said to be obese and are at high risk of having hypertension.