High blood pressure impact on your health

There are mainly two types of HTN depending on the causes: essential or primary hypertension does not have any obvious causes and is responsible for 90% of cases, but several factors need to be considered, such as heredity, age and lifestyle; and secondary hypertension, which is generally caused by a specific disease (e.g. kidney disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease).

According to the American Heart Association, the most common risk factors for developing hypertension are:

• Excessive levels of salt in the blood (or sodium intake greater than 1500 milligrams per day) and excessive sugar and fat intake;
• Diabetes and hypercholesterolemia;
• Sleep apnea, a respiratory condition in which oxygen levels decrease dramatically during sleep, increasing blood pressure and adding stress to the cardiovascular system. Those with obstructive sleep apnea are at higher risk of developing hypertension;
• Obesity is linked to many different factors such as sedentary lifestyle, bad diet, excessive intake of salty foods, hyperinsulinism, etc. Each of these conditions eventually causes a thickening of the arteries as well as conditions such as diabetes, heart attacks and even strokes;
• A long-term sedentary lifestyle;
• Excessive alcohol use or drug use (e.g., cocaine, amphetamine and crystal meth) can cause unbearable pressure on the heart and arteries and cause permanent damage;
• Smoking contributes to a constriction and narrowing of the arteries, and this is strongly linked to heart disease;
• Some hormonal diseases (e.g., Cushing syndrome, caused by excessive production of steroid hormones) could also cause blood vessel constriction and therefore hypertension;
• The presence of kidney disease – in this case, the adrenal glands (small pea-shaped glands just above the kidneys) secrete excess cortisol, which can raise blood pressure.

If you do not have risks associated to heredity or secondary hypertension, you can prevent hypertension by adopting a healthy lifestyle and diet. Hypertension Canada recommends that you:

• Engage in moderate physical activity for 30 to 60 minutes, nearly every day of the week (“moderate” means you sweat a bit and breathe a little harder than usual)
• Lose weight if you are obese
• If you think you have sleep apnea, get a diagnosis
• Adopt healthy eating habits
• Reduce your salt or sodium intake and remember that most of the sodium you get is from processed or packaged foods as well as restaurant or take-out food. Wash canned foods and other salty foods in water before eating or cooking them
• Read the labels on the foods you buy and look for packaged foods that provide 5% or less of daily sodium intake
• Achieve your healthy weight or, in other words, a healthy body mass index (BMI) of 20-25
• Manage your stress levels to improve your coping skills and health
• Limit your alcohol consumption to 1 or 2 drinks per day or less
• Don’t smoke and avoid places where people smoke

Hypertension Canada
American Heart Association