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smoking is a leading cause of high blood pressure
stop smoking now-your life depends on it CAUSES OF HIGH BP The reasons for hypertension are not always clear.
However, there are lifestyle factors that contribute to high blood pressure
that can be changed.
Sedentary lifestyle: Too often, many of us sit down all day at work, and then sit down all night at home. Over time, this inactivity usually leads to weight gain, making the heart work harder to pump blood through the body. In a way, it almost seems contradictory, but inactivity usually leads to higher heart rates. Body type: Weight isn't always a reliable indicator of whether or not you'll have high blood pressure—but the type of weight is. Lean body mass—muscle—doesn't increase blood pressure levels the way that fat can. However, fat body mass, especially fat around your middle, can contribute to high blood pressure. Sodium intake: Sometimes it's hard to believe how much salt there is in processed foods. However, salt intake in itself is not necessarily bad. For people with a history of congestive heart failure, ischemia, and high blood pressure, sodium is definitely out. For those individuals, it leads to more water retention, which increases blood pressure. |
Heavy alcohol intake: Having three or more alcoholic drinks a day (two or more for women) nearly doubles an individual's chance of developing high blood pressure. Over time, heavy drinking puts a lot of stress on the organs, including the heart, liver, pancreas and brain.
Low potassium intake: Unlike sodium, potassium is a mineral that most Americans get too little of. Potassium helps regulate the amount of sodium in our cells, expelling excess amounts through the kidneys. Low levels of this mineral can allow too much sodium to build up in the body.
Unhealthy eating: Eating a lot of processed or fatty foods contributes to high blood pressure. Adapting a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, fish, nuts and magnesium and potassium (like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, known as the "DASH" diet) can bring it back down.
Smoking: If you smoke, stop. Smoking damages the heart and arteries—period. Nicotine constricts blood vessels, increases heart rate, and raises blood pressure.
This in turn, increases hormone production and adrenaline levels, further stressing the body. As if that weren't bad enough, the carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke replaces the oxygen in the blood, making the heart work even harder to make up the difference. Since the effect of a single cigarette can last for an hour, smoking throughout the day leads to continuously revved-up blood pressure. Some of these factors might sound like a lot to overcome. The important thing to remember is that all of these behaviors are changeable. If you have high blood pressure, modifying any of these can significantly lower blood pressure as part of an overall plan.
CONCLUSION
Make no mistake about it: high blood pressure is dangerous. It is the number one modifiable cause of stroke. The higher the blood pressure, the greater is the chance for heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney disease. In some cases, it can cause blindness. Just lowering blood pressure reduces the chance of stroke by 35 to 40 percent. Other conditions, including heart attack and heart failure can be reduced from 25 and 50 percent, respectively.
Even people with normal blood pressure at 55 years of age will have a 90% lifetime risk of developing hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension increases with advancing age to the point where more than half of people 60-69 years of age and approximately three-fourths of those 70 years of age and older are affected.
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