What Can Cause High Blood Pressure?

With over 50 million Americans having high blood pressure, many people ask what can cause high blood pressure? There is no one single cause, there are many. Here's a quick rundown on what causes this life threatening disease and what you can do to improve your health.

Weight

Your body weight plays a significant role in having many health problems, with blood pressure being just one of them. The more overweight you are, the greater the risk you have in developing high blood pressure. It goes hand in hand. By simply keeping your weight in check, you can dramatically reduce the risks associated with hypertension, heart disease, and other causes that lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Eating Habits

Your daily diet plays another key role in maintaining normal blood pressure. You need to try and reduce the number of calories your body consumes each day or try to burn off more of them. If you can make it a goal to reduce your total calories by 300 a day, you'll lose a pound a week. Drop 500 calories a day and it will take off 2 pounds. It may not appear dramatic, but it's the gradual drop in weight that produces long term weight loss and keeps it off.

Exercise

By increasing your amount of physical activity, you'll also lose weight and lower blood pressure levels. You can also improve cholesterol level and reduce the risk of heart disease. Getting more exercise doesn't require joining a health club. It can be as simple as a 30 minute walk 4-5 times a week. Of course, if you like swimming, biking or aerobics, that's even better.

These are the main issues that cause high blood pressure, but there are others as well. If you can improve in these three areas, then you'll go a long way in reducing the risks of getting this disease and improving your overall health.