What causes hypertension?
CONTRARY TO popular thinking, I consider high blood pressure as more of a symptom than an actual disease.
Underlying medical conditions like kidney disease, hormonal imbalance or medication cause less than 10 per cent of the cases of hypertension. The other 90 per cent results from an unhealthy lifestyle. Common lifestyle culprits include:
A diet high in unhealthy fat, processed carbohydrates and salt and low in fibre and nutrients. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle Chronic stress and cigarette smoking. I regard hypertension as a symptom of a sick circulation. In any plumbing system, if the pipes become corroded, narrowed or blocked, the pressure must increase for flow to be maintained. So with the human circulation, hardening of the arteries, narrowing and blockage of blood vessels by a process called atherosclerosis is a major underlying cause of high blood pressure.
The actual high blood pressure reading is a signal, a warning light that the pipes (arteries) are unhealthy. People do not just die from high blood pressure. They suffer and die from the results of the diseased circulation that contributed to the elevation in pressure.
The main organs that suffer are the brain — brain damage and strokes, the heart — heart enlargement and heart failure, the kidneys — kidney disease and renal failure and the eyes visual impairment and blindness.
TREAT THE CAUSE
Most cases of hypertension can be treated effectively by changing one’s lifestyle. This is the first line of treatment and along with nutritional supplements and herbs is an effective and safe way of correcting high blood pressure.
Blood pressure medication is sometimes indicated, but in my opinion should only be used as a secondary line of treatment.
Just taking ‘pressure tablets’ as soon as one is diagnosed with high blood pressure is rarely indicated and only in very severe cases, as this approach only treats the symptoms and does not address the underlying cause.
These drugs may sometimes lower the blood pressure reading, but do not correct the underlying circulatory dysfunction.
The chronic use of blood pressure medication is associated with many problems and more drugs often needed to treat the side effects of the ones originally prescribed.