Cause of high blood pressure?

[pigeongirl]

My doctor has said that my blood pressure is a bit high, but I have no idea why. I don't smoke, rarely drink alcohol, have a healthy diet, (not too much salt, saturated fat or processed food) I'm not overweight and I exercise regularly. I don't have a particularly stressful job or anything, and I'm otherwise healthy, so why the high blood pressure? How can I lower it? (or should I just forget about it and not raise it even more by worrying about it?!)

[leew031]

maybe theirs things that stress you out that you unoctice or if you worrie alot that could be a cause

[Keeprockin]

If it's only a litle high,then try cutting down on tea/coffee,drink more water, and do a little more aerobic exercise,walking at a reasonable pace is fine. Don't forget it. It's not known as the 'silent killer' for nothing. It needs checking again in a month or so,hopefully you'll not need pills

[Dr Hungry]

1) You can get 'essential hypertension' which is just high blood pressure in itself rather than being caused by something else. It can just be one of those things that happens!
2) GPs get paid an awful lot of money for monitoring and treating their patients blood pressure, so if he/she thinks that it will be a problem for you, then they will be on the case like lightening! If they haven't already given you any advice or medication or anything, then my guess would be that it's not raised significantly, and you don't need to worry about it - and like you say, that will probably be of some help in itself!

[kwicky]

If you imagine your heart as a pump, which it is, the amount of force required will depend on your veins to transfer the blood to the organs or extremities. If these are clogged or too narrow more pressure is needed so a higher reading. There are 2 readings systolic and distolic and the average at rest is 120/80 for a normal individual. High blood pressure is called hypertension. There are many high blood pressure tablets and it is well known that snooker players take them to relax at the table. It is directed that once they are taken you will probably have to take them for the rest of your life so try to cure any underlying problem before taking them. ie too much salt,obesity, exercise, undue worry or what seems to be in your case hereditary. What extra can be done: some people swear by vitamen E capsules and various books have been written on its benefits. Others say Yoga is very relaxing. Trying to tell someone not to worry has precisely the opposite affect. I believe in the CT body scans which are quite affordable now:

http://www.lifescanuk.org

This will give you peace of mind.

[pigeongirl]

Thanks for your answers, my dad's just told me he's always had high blood pressure, despite being the most health conscious, clean living person ever, so it's probably hereditary.

Oh well, at least I inherited his blood pressure and not his moustache...

[Hans_Olo]

Essential hypertension is we cant find a reason - its probably genetic and constitutional. But it's something that tends to affect older people - there may be a cause if you are young. The thing about blood pressure is that not only is it fluid ie goes up and down normally but that the lower the bp the less risk there is of heart attack or stroke - so for people with higher risk - such as diabetes or kidney disease we try to keep it lower than we would with essential hypertension. Really the value at which we diagnose hypertension is arbitary - one which gives a risk of heart attack or stroke over a certain value such as 1 in 10 or 1 in 5 over the next 10years.

[Hans_Olo]

You could ask your GP what your risk is of vasular disease is over the next 10 years - he/she should be able to tell you using framingham tables