Almost 33% of the US population has high blood pressure without knowing it. This is especially since there may be no symptoms. Most people believe that if do not have symptoms like dizziness, redness in the face, nervousness, insomnia or sweating then they are fine. However high blood pressure can be present with no symptoms and be damaging the heart and other organs. No wonder it is called the silent killer.
Blood pressure tends to change and even though you may have your doctor check it for you, home monitoring is the best way to determine your levels. Sometimes your doctor may not diagnose high blood pressure during a routine check up as many times blood pressure tends to spike during medical appointments or temporary nervousness.
20% of young adults have high blood pressure. Therefore hypertension is not necessarily an issue of aging even though blood pressure tends to rise with age. Also while having family members with hypertension raises your risk of getting it, there are many who develop it without any hereditary reasons. Regular incidents of stress can also cause blood pressure to rise in the long term. Intake of high sodium levels can cause hypertension. It may be difficult to monitor salt levels as it is present in a variety of processed foods.
The good news is that hypertension can be controlled with lifestyle changes. There may be no need for prescription medications many of which can cause side effects.
Losing weight, drastically limiting salt in the diet, giving up alcohol, smoking and caffeine exercising regularly can effectively bring blood pressure to normal levels of 120/80.