High blood pressure risk factors
High blood pressure risk factors
High blood pressure or what is also known as hypertension is one of the highly prevalent ailments among middle aged people all around the globe. It is considered the silent killer as it paves the way for many other diseases to hit your body organs and systems.
Let us browse through the different risk factors that may lead to high blood pressure:
Age: susceptible category includes those over 35 years old, although cases of blood hypertension were reported in cases of younger age. Both sexes are liable to acquire blood hypertension and especially women after menopause period.
Race: black people show higher rate of high blood pressure than white people. Blacks also get hypertension in younger age.
Smoking: this is one of the important risk factors as it affects the blood pressure in two ways. Smoking affects the increment of blood pressure directly after smoking as well as the increment on the long run caused by the chemicals that accumulate in your arteries.
Obesity: higher body weight means that your body needs more blood to vehicle nutrients to all your body organs and since the length of your blood vessels does not increase while the amount of blood increases then blood pressure will elevate directly.
Cholesterol: accumulation of cholesterol in your blood vessels decreases the volume of your arteries and veins so the blood has less area to move through. Imagine you are holding your garden hose with your finger on the nozzle, you will see the water coming out with higher pressure. The same goes with your blood and blood vessels.
Level of activity: when you are active and practice any kind of sport, your hear grow bigger and more powerful so it delivers the blood with less strokes and contractions but if you are a laid back person then your heart is exerting extra effort to deliver blood. Higher heart beat rate means higher susceptibility for high blood pressure.