The first step to controlling high blood pressure is to know the cause.

Officially the cause of 90% of high blood pressure is “unknown”. But no worries. The actual causes of hypertension are well known. What the official position means is that hypertension can’t be ascribed to one single cause.

When we examine the actual statistics and our own personal experiences then controlling high blood pressure by determining and treating the causes is the way forward.

Below are the five main causes of high blood pressure.

Our Modern Diet.

That frozen take-home meal may taste great, not to mention fast and convenient. It might also be slowly killing us. I’m talking about highly processed foods full of saturated fats, trans-fats, salt, etc. Over time all these unnecessary additives clog up our system and increase our blood pressure. These days we are literally eating ourselves to death.

The good news is that there are all sorts of delicious alternatives. Better yet, you can control your high blood pressure by switching to a healthy and tasty diet. Over time this can reverse the effects of of a bad diet that caused high blood pressure in the first place.

Lack of Exercise.

Unfortunately, the comforts of modern lifestyles brings with it a new set of problems. Raised blood pressure due to lack of exercise is one of them. Controlling high blood pressure through daily exercise is a simple and easy to implement remedy.

High blood pressure caused by Stress.

Modern life and stress seems to go hand in hand. It is often invisible but seeps into our life nevertheless, raising our blood pressure and shortening our lives.

If there’s too much stress in your life there are ways to relief it and see it off. Stress reducing techniques (such as slow breathing exercises) have now been accepted as valid approach to controlling high blood pressure by mainstream medicine.

Genetics.

Some families suffer from high blood pressure more than others. It’s called genetics. If your parents suffer from high blood pressure then there’s a greater chance of you developing it too.

But that doesn’t mean its your fate to suffer from high blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure ‘in the genes’ it simply means that you have to put more effort into controlling high blood pressure.

Aging.

As we get older our blood circulatory system ages with us. Our veins tend to get smaller and harder. The medical establishment calls it atherosclerosis..

This used to be taken into consideration when determining health blood pressure. Systolic 100 plus your age was considered OK. Not anymore. 120/80 is now the blood pressure shoe size that’s supposed to fit everyone

There is nothing we can do about getting older but there’s things we can do to slow down the effects of time and controlling high blood pressure.

So these are the five main causes causes of high blood pressure.

Controlling high blood pressure caused by the first three causes is reasonably straightforward. Changing our diet, start exercising and reducing stress levels.

Controlling high blood pressure caused by aging can be accomplished by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Also, powerful antioxidants are now available which can slow or even reverse the effects of age.

Hypertension due to genetics cannot be ‘cured’ but it can be controlled. Having high blood pressure in the family doesn’t mean you are doomed. It does mean however, that you’ll have to work harder at controlling high blood pressure and keeping it within a healthy range.

By: Simon Foster

Article source: http://www.goarticles.com/

About the Author

Simon Foster was a sufferer of dangerously high blood pressure but has now achieved healthy levels through exercise and diet without the use of medications. Find out how you con lower you blood pressure naturally too at: HighBloodPressureBeGone.com