Symptoms and risk factors of high blood pressure

High blood pressure or what is medically referred to as hypertension affects about 80 million Americans. Today, it is the most common of all the cardiovascular diseases in industrialized nations and is in fact the leading cause of stroke and heart attack. The figure actually translates to one of every four Americans or probably even more because most do not even know that they have one. In fact, in studies conducted, it was found that about 30 percent of the people affected by high blood pressure are not even aware of the condition until after it has gone past the serious stage.

Awareness Campaign

This is perhaps why there are a lot of efforts being done to create awareness of the condition. Alarmed by the increasing mortality rates of the problem, medical practitioners especially cardiologists stress the importance of regularly monitoring high blood pressure, as this will help prevent the condition from developing into coronary heart disease and even stroke.

Signs and symptoms

Regular high blood pressure check-ups are the only way to go for unlike other medical conditions, hypertension does not exhibit signs and symptoms specific to the problem. Headaches, dizziness and nosebleeds, which frequently occur with people with high blood pressure will often mistake the symptoms from ordinary physical ailments, often from stress.

Some people with mild cases of high blood pressure or hypertension will feel a dull ache or pain as well as numbness at the back of the neck when they wake up in the morning. Other symptoms include: Excessive perspiration; muscle cramps; weakness; frequent urination and rapid or irregular heartbeat (palpitations). There will also be chest pains or tightness near the heart, nausea, swelling of the legs and even memory loss.

These symptoms, however, do not typically manifest until after hypertension has advanced to the more serious stage, which is often already life threatening. That is if they do manifest at all. Most people do not even manifest any symptoms and what is dangerous about "not knowing" is that they would continue doing the things that would further exacerbate the conditions.

In addition to not having any symptoms, high blood pressure can strike anybody. Although there are people who are more likely to develop the condition, high blood pressure can happen to almost everybody.

A lifestyle problem

Unlike other diseases caused by virus or bacteria, hypertension is essentially a lifestyle problem. Those who are most at risk are those whose diet consist of food rich in fats and cholesterol, those who love to eat salty foods and those who are fond of drinking alcoholic beverages as this can increase the pressure of the blood. Age is also a factor. The older one gets, the greater the risk in developing hypertension. This is because as one gets older, the less likely that the body can process fats and cholesterol. Hypertension, in fact, occurs most often in people who are over 35 years old. Men seem to develop the condition more often than women between ages 35 to 55. Women, however, develop the condition after menopause.

People with family history of heart disease and high blood pressure may also be more susceptible to developing the condition. Lack of physical activity may also be a factor although moderation is advised because too much physical activities and strenuous work can also exacerbate the condition. Other risk factors that may play a role in the development of the problem are stress and race.