Blood pressure is defined as the pressure that’s put on the walls of the arteries as blood is pumped by way of the circulatory system. Blood runs through our veins and arteries at a certain pressure. Within natural limits, this pressure is not harmful. However, if this pressure increases, the heart is overworked and the arteries develop abnormal interior tissue growth. This further blocks the passage of blood, leading to increasing blood pressure. Finally, the heart muscle itself thickens, making the heart progressively weaker.

Efforts to lower high blood pressure date back to the beginnings of recorded history. Ancient healing systems such as yoga and herbal medicine sciences such as ayurveda prescribed methods to lower high blood pressure long before modern medicinal intervention. Then and now, there is a great emphasis on changing unhealthy lifestyles to lower high blood pressure. Doctors do not focus only on treating high blood pressure but also on assessing a patient’s overall risk to cardiovascular disease.

Not taking measures to lower high blood pressure can finally result in serious heart disease. Strokes, heart attacks and heart failure are often the result. Another serious health complication caused by high blood pressure is kidney failure. High blood pressure is often not detected until it leads to other health issues. Occasionally, there might be symptoms such as nausea, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitation (rapid beating) and arrhythmia (irregular heart beat).

A lot of drugs such as aspirin and other anti-clotting agents have reduced the incidence of heart attacks and strokes in patients with high blood pressure. Patients are now trained to monitor their own blood pressures regularly, recognize warning signs and to seek medical treatment immediately when required.

In some cases, patients inherit their susceptibility to high blood pressure from their parents. Congenital high blood pressure is harder to treat than other forms because the problem is an integral part of the genetic makeup. Thankfully, advanced medical research is developing newer methods to lower high blood pressure of every origin.

Many commonly used medicines can cause high blood pressure as side effects. Such medicines include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids and contraceptives. Obesity invariably leads to high blood pressure because of the excessive body weight and the additional pressure it puts on the heart and arterial system. An unhealthy diet rich in salt and fats, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle devoid of exercise, is another culprit. High blood pressure – often to a fatal extent – can also be attributed to excessive use of alcohol and intoxicating drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

Good thing is that, modern medical science has gone to great lengths to find ways to lower high blood pressure. By itself, high blood pressure or arterial hypertension is almost never a serious health threat. However, doctors attempt to lower high blood pressure in their patients because it can have serious long-term consequences.

Get to know more about hypertension.