what causes high blood pressure besides bad diet?

Answer 1

Stress. Repressed emotions. Things you want to say but never do. There's a lot of pressure behind repression... that can certainly lead to high blood pressure. I'm sure there will be many more answers than this. Good luck.

Answer 2

3 years ago, I was diagnosed - hypertension with a reading of 160/100. I used to feel dizzy a lot, my legs had awful cramps, and levels were very low in my potassium, causing my fingers and toes to always cramp together. One day I started to feel really faint while I was driving with my daughter in the back seat and I passed out, hitting 3 cars and ending up in a ditch. That moment,I knew I had to do something because my meds weren't working. I heard about this diet from a friend and thought I'd give it a shot. The results have been remarkable. In just 21 days, I honestly can't remember feeling this good, my blood pressure went from 175/110 to 125/70.

Answer 3

As for your heart rate, normal is 60-80 BPM so yours is a little high. It could be stress another thing that can cause it is caffeine. Do you drink a lot of caffeine, do you smoke? Both can cause a high heart rate. Now your BP is a little on the high side, borderline HBP is 140/90 and you are just below that so again caffeine, smoking or overuse of salt can cause HBP as can stress. Do you drink diet soda? Diet soda (pop) is loaded with sodium (salt) and that can be what is keeping your numbers up so watch the soda, even regular soda has sodium. Read labels for salt and watch what you eat. The Dr once told me the systolic (top) number goes up from stress and the diastolic (bottom) from salt, caffeine & smoking so keep that in mind and try to relax. Listen to music, go for a walk, read a book, watch a funny movie, anything to relieve stress. Some people have stress and don't realize it.

Answer 4

Several factors are known to increase blood pressure, including obesity, heavy use of alcohol, a family history of high blood pressure, high salt intake, and aging. A sedentary lifestyle, stress, low potassium and calcium intake, and resistance to insulin may also cause your blood pressure to rise.

What are the symptoms?

Usually you will not feel any warning signs or symptoms of high blood pressure, and you will not know you have it until a health professional takes a blood pressure reading. Hypertension develops slowly and can cause serious organ damage, usually without any symptoms.

If you develop severe high blood pressure, you may have headaches, visual disturbances, nausea, and vomiting. Malignant high blood pressure (hypertensive crisis), which is hypertension that rises rapidly, can also cause these symptoms. Untreated malignant hypertension can damage the brain, heart, eyes, or kidneys. It is a medical emergency that requires immediate hospitalization.

Over time, if you do not receive treatment for high blood pressure, you may experience symptoms caused by damage to your heart, brain, kidney, or eyes, which can include coronary artery disease, stroke, and kidney (renal) failure

Answer 5

The cause of 'high' blood pressure it unknown but likely multi-factorial and exceedingly complex. Functional changes in the endothelial cells which line the arteries are noted a good decade before the blood pressure is found to be 'elevated'. Elevated means above 115/065 if taken upon awakening in the morning at home. Home early morning readings are more consistent than physician office readings. I use office readings only to identify patients who need to take home readings. It is of note that there is a fairly linear increase in cardiovascular risk (think stroke and heart attack) above 115/065. Indeed - for every 20/15 increase in blood pressure above 115/065 the cardiovascular risk doubles. These numbers are much lower than most definitions of 'normal' or 'high' blood pressure suggesting that definitions and goals typically lag a decade or longer behind the results of medical studies. Most people taking blood pressure lowering medications are not at goal when the above goals are used and there is a substantial number of individuals with blood pressures in need of attention who go undetected or whose blood pressure goes unnoticed.

Answer 6

It can be hereditary, you weight, stress, ethnicity and your diet. Also other diseases take a part in high blood pressure. Go to webmd.com and do a search for it and it will tell you all about it.

Answer 7

High intake of salt from diet

Answer 8

I do agree with Tina, but in my case it was different. My blood started becoming hyper-coagulated. It is controlled now, but only if I keep my blood very thinned