High blood pressure is a dangerous condition that many people suffer from. Hypertension does not always have early symptoms, so it’s possible to live with it for a long time and not know about it. High blood pressure has a variety of causes, and we’ll be looking at a few of these now.

Certain long term illnesses can raise your risk of developing high blood pressure. Especially in the elderly, kidney disease is a common cause of hypertension. Having type 1 or type 2 diabetes can also cause high blood pressure because both these conditions damage the kidney. If either kidney disease or diabetes is common in your family, you are at a greater risk for developing them. Your doctor will want to monitor your blood pressure if you are diagnosed with either diabetes or any kind of kidney disease and may prescribe medication to help manage it.

High cholesterol may be one cause of high blood pressure, and both are associated with many ailments such as heart disease. If you limit the “bad” cholesterol in your diet, and have healthy amounts of “good” cholesterol, you can bring your overall cholesterol to a healthy level. Heart disease and high blood pressure are caused by bad, or LDL cholesterol, which blocks your arteries.

On the other hand, HDL is the good kind of cholesterol, and this actually reverses the damage done by bad cholesterol. Good cholesterol can be increased if you eat healthy fats, such as are found in may nuts, olive oil, avocados and fish oil. Avoiding unhealthy foods, such as hydrogenated oils, processed foods and most fast foods can help you to reduce the bad cholesterol in your diet. Lowering your cholesterol often helps to lower your blood pressure as both are important factors when it comes to your overall health.

While diet is only one contributing factor it’s an important one. This “silent killer” is often called this because of its inherent ability to sneak up on you and hit with more vengeance. Use the guidelines we’ve shared here in this article along with regular checkups from your doctor to keep you ahead of the game when dealing with the potential to have hypertension, eat right, exercise regularly and cut down on fats.

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