It is often called the “silent killer” because it can damage your heart, kidney, and brain, even though you feel no symptoms. Blood pressure is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. If your blood pressure is normal, you can work with your health care team to keep it that way. If your blood pressure is too high, you need treatment to prevent damage to your bodys organs. High blood pressure is dangerous because it makes the heart work too hard and contributes to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Blood pressure is a measure of how hard the blood pushes against the walls of your arteries as it moves through your body.
Doctors do not know what causes high blood pressure in 90 to 95 percent of people who have it. In about 10 percent of patients, the disease can be traced to specific causes: heredity, kidney abnormalities, adrenal gland tumors, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hormone abnormalities, use of birth control pills, pregnancy or a congenital narrowing of the aorta. Other possible causes of higher blood pressure are weight gain and decreased physical activity in...