High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition in which your blood pressure is above the normal accepted levels of blood pressure that is 120/80 mmHg. Hypertension is not a disease in itself. But it can be the potential cause for a horde of other diseases. It can cause complications related to the heart, kidney, bones, and brain.

Here is a detailed overview on high blood pressure, its types, causes and symptoms.

Types of hypertension:
Mainly, there are two types of hypertension: Primary hypertension and secondary hypertension.

Symptoms of hypertension:
Usually patients of high blood pressure exhibit following symptoms:
1) Headaches
2) Dizziness
3) Blurred vision
4) Low libido or lack of sexual desire
5) Digestive upsets
6) Trembling
7) Lethargy
8) Sudden and inexplainable noise in the ear

Causes of hypertension:
There are many causes that contribute to the development of the hypertension. These are:

Too much muscle tone on arteries: Excessive muscle tone in your sympathetic nervous system constricts your arteries. Your arteries can also get restricted because of too much adrenal gland activity and lack of magnesium and calcium. This leads to hypertension.

Hardness of the arteries: Diet low in zinc can make the arteries hard and brittle. Low quantities of zinc cause the arteries to inflame when they should be flexible and soft. This loss of elasticity leads to the development of hypertension.

Kidney disorder: There are some toxic substances that get build up within your kidneys and start damaging them. It limits the ability of the kidney to regulate the balance of water in the body. As a result, water retention and ultimately salt retention takes place, which causes hypertension.

Excess sodium or salt intake: Excess intake of salt and sodium can also raise your blood pressure.

Stress: Stress in any form, from any source, can result in elevated levels of blood pressure.

Genetics: If both your parents have hypertension, then even you have a 75 % chance of developing it. And if any one of your parents has it, then you have a 50 % chance of contriving the condition

In addition to all these, there are some other causes also that contribute to the development of hypertension. These include:

a) Obesity
b) Cigarette smoking
c) Alcohol intake
d) Physical inactivity

Complications of Hypertension:
High blood pressure never comes alone. It is accompanied by various complications, some of which can also be fatal. And if your hypertension is complemented by diabetes, then the chances of damage to your heart double. Some of the complications caused due to hypertension are:

a) Enlarged left heart
b) Heart failure
c) Coronary artery disease
d) Heart attack
e) Heart failure

The possibility of damage to your kidneys, also increases by far, if you are afflicted with hypertension. The damage to your kidneys can be in the form of:

I) Kidney failure
II) Glomerulosclerosis
III) Kidney aneurysm
IV) Kidney failure
V) Glomerulonephritis

Hypertension can also damage your eyes. The diseases that can be caused to the eyes, due to hypertension are:

a) Retinopathy
b) Choroidopathy
c) Optic neuropathy

In addition to the above mentioned complications, the following can also be expected as complications accompanying hypertension:
a) Erectile dysfunction
b) Bone loss
c) Peripheral vascular disease
d) Osteoporosis

But remember that there is no need to worry about the complications caused by hypertension. All you need to do is to keep your blood pressure under control and you can easily avoid all the above mentioned complications and live a healthier life.

Treatment for hypertension:
The options that can be used to treat hypertension include medical treatment, dietary therapy, herbal medicine, mediation, yoga and Ayurvedic medicine. But before trying any of these, you should try to treat it by changing your lifestyle, by taking a healthy diet, and exercise. If all these fail to control your blood pressure then you should resort to the above mentioned options.