High Blood Pressure

Your heart’s job is to pump blood through your body so it can deliver oxygen to your organs and tissues.



Every time it beats, it creates pressure to move blood through. With high blood pressure (HBP or hypertension), your heart has to work harder, and blood pumps against your artery walls with too much force.

Here’s what happens when you have high blood pressure:

1. Healthy arteries are smooth, flexible and open, allowing for easy blood flow.
2. Over time, the force of high blood pressure stretches your arteries so weak spots and tears form. Scar tissue builds up on top of these tears, making your arteries less flexible. The scar tissue also acts as a net and catches cholesterol and other substances from your blood, which form hard plaques inside your arteries.
3. Plaque buildup narrows the space for blood to flow. Your heart has to work harder to pump blood through narrowed arteries.
4. Left untreated, high blood pressure increases the risk of a clot forming and blocking blood flow. This can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Risk Factors

High blood pressure doesn’t usually have symptoms, but certain things can increase your risk or make it worse. These include some risk factors you can’t control:

• Age—Your risk increases as you get older because your blood vessels become less flexible.
• Family history—If your parents or close relatives have high blood pressure, there’s a higher chance you will, too.
• Race—High blood pressure is more common in Black Americans.

And some risk factors you may be able to change:

• Being overweight—Carrying extra body weight makes your heart and circulatory system work harder.
• Not being physically active—Whether you’re overweight or not, your heart has to work harder when you’re out of shape.
• Stress—It causes your heart to speed up and your blood vessels to tighten.
• Smoking or chewing tobacco—Smoking causes a buildup of fatty substances in your blood vessels, which raises blood pressure.
• High-sodium or low-potassium diet—Salt makes your body hold onto water, which puts pressure on your blood vessels and heart. Potassium helps your body get rid of sodium.
• Regularly drinking too much alcohol—Having more than 2 drinks a day if you’re a man, or 1 if you’re a woman.
• Certain health conditions like diabetes or kidney disease—If you don’t treat it, diabetes can cause your blood vessels to stiffen and damage your kidneys, so the 3 conditions often happen together.

Talk to your doctor about changes you can make to help lower your risk.