Overview.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, means the pressure in the arteries is above the normal range. Additional stress on the body caused by hypertension can increase the risk for heart disease and stroke. Today a staggering amount of people have high blood pressure and don’t even know it.
Finding out the specific cause of high blood pressure can be tricky. It’s proven that family history, age, stress levels, lifestyle factors, and health conditions may contribute to the development of hypertension. But if the causes may be mysterious, the risk factors are very clear: they include smoking, an unhealthy diet that is high in sodium, excessive caffeine, obesity, certain birth control pills, and emotional stress.
If you are tired of having high blood pressure, do not limit your treatment to just taking your daily dose of antihypertensive medications. It is time to switch to healthy eating habits. Drug treatment together with a healthy diet are proven to be highly beneficial in the fight against hypertension. There are no “magic pills” that can make hypertension simply disappear. But there are ways to ensure a longer and healthier life.
We are what we eat, that is, the foods you eat can affect your blood pressure, in both good ways and bad.
