High Blood Pressure (hypertension) - Symptoms and Causes

High blood pressure (hypertension) - Symptoms and causes

Hypertension (High blood pressure) is a health condition that is widely prevalent among people. We may have commonly heard of “high blood pressure” from our family or friend circles. It may sound like a common health condition and has nothing to worry about.

But reality says otherwise. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), high blood pressure symptoms are one of the common causes of premature deaths all over the world. Studies show that 57% of stroke deaths and 24% of coronary heart disease deaths are directly linked to hypertension.

It is now clear that hypertension is one of the major health burdens that paves the way for the onset of other chronic diseases. Hence, it is inevitable for us to learn about the symptoms of high blood pressure to take necessary precautions at an early stage.

What is hypertension?

Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood in your body against the walls of arteries and major blood vessels.

Blood pressure is determined by two means:

Systolic pressure: It is the amount of pressure in your arteries when the heartbeats.
Diastolic pressure: It is the amount of pressure in your arteries between heartbeats.

Blood pressure readings are given in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and it usually comes in two numbers. The first number represents the systolic pressure whereas the second number represents diastolic pressure.

If your pressure readings exceed the normal limits, it is termed hypertension.

What are the top 10 symptoms of hypertension?

One of the dangerous aspects of hypertension is that you may not know its symptoms unless and until it is severe. Most people with hypertension don’t show any sort of symptoms. Because of this, hypertension is known as the ‘silent killer.’

But it is easy to find out whether you have high blood pressure. Doctors usually check your blood pressure using a device named Sphygmomanometer, otherwise called a BP monitor.

Yet, some of the commonly prevailing hypertension symptoms are:

Nosebleed
Although not a common symptom of hypertension, nosebleeds can occur due to the strain that high blood pressure places on delicate nasal blood vessels. Bleeding can occur spontaneously or when someone blows their nose.
Severe Headaches
Headaches are a common cause of hypertension, where the affected person can feel a pressing sensation on both sides of their head. This discomfort can also lead to pain in the neck as well as the back of an individual’s head.
Lack of Clarity in Vision
Blurry vision or partial vision loss can indicate early-stage high blood pressure eye symptoms. This is because hypertension acts as a ‘silent killer’ and may rupture the tiny arteries that supply blood to the retinas at the back of your eyes.
Chest Pain
Severe heart issues are often reflected through chest pains or discomfort. Blood pressure symptoms may also include significant chest pain, medically termed angina. This feeling is similar to aching, burning or tightness in a person’s chest.
Irregular Heartbeat
A person’s heart needs to adapt over time and modify its functionality and structure to resist the significant arterial resistance affected by hypertension. These changes lead to a condition named arrhythmia or irregular heartbeats.
Shortness of Breath
As per a study published by the British Heart Foundation, one of the major symptoms of high blood pressure in women is acute shortness of breath. The difficulty arises when the lungs are filled with fluid. It may cause the affected individual to gasp for air, wheeze, or breathe laboriously.
Profuse Sweating
High diastolic blood pressure symptoms can cover temporary stress reactions like fatigue, sweating, anxiety, or even panic attacks. If you often face these problems, it is better to visit a doctor immediately.
Dizziness
Elevated blood pressure also leads to dizziness as your brain receives inadequate oxygenated blood. As a result, the person can suffer from temporary conditions like vertigo and lightheadedness.
Flushing
Though not as common as other high blood pressure symptoms, facial flushing happens when suddenly the blood vessels in someone’s face dilate and fill with more blood. However, this symptom may not always result from hypertension as spicy foods, prolonged sun exposure, and hot beverages can also cause a similar effect.
Blood in Urine
Hematuria, or blood in urine, is a serious high blood pressure symptom that occurs when the arteries in a person’s kidneys are stressed or ruptured. As a result, they might see red, brown or pink urine. This situation must be brought to a doctor's attention immediately.

What are the common causes of hypertension?

The two different types of hypertensions are:

Primary hypertension: It is also called essential hypertension. This type of hypertension develops in adults over a period of time without any specific cause.
Secondary hypertension: Hypertension caused by some other health condition or practice is called secondary hypertension. This increases blood pressure dramatically and leads to many health issues.

Some common hypertension causes include:

Kidney diseases
Thyroid problems
Obstructive sleep apnea
Congenital defects in blood vessels

Some lifestyle practices that give rise to hypertension include:

Drinking alcohol
Smoking cigarettes
Illegal drugs like cocaine and amphetamines
Some medications such as birth control pills, pain relievers, etc.

What are the risk factors of hypertension?

Hypertension is attributed to several risk factors including the following:

Age: As you age, there are a plethora of reasons that give rise to high blood pressure, especially primary hypertension. Commonly, women tend to develop high blood pressure over the age of 65 years.
Family history: If you have a family history of hypertension, you are at risk of inheriting it. However, there is no clear pattern to understand how this condition gets transferred through genes.
Obesity: As your body weight increases, the blood flow will also increase to supply oxygen to your tissues. This in turn increases the pressure in your artery walls and leads to hypertension.
Consuming too much salt: Common salt is nothing but sodium chloride. When you consume excess sodium, your body will retain fluids that naturally increase the pressure.
Consuming too little potassium: Potassium is essential for your effective heart function. It balances the amount of sodium in your body. If you lose too much potassium due to dehydration or consume too little potassium, the amount of sodium will increase and lead to hypertension.

What is the connection between stress and hypertension?

It is common to see that people with high blood pressure have increased stress. This can also work backwards, i.e.., stressful situations give rise to hypertension.

Although there are no conclusive studies that show that stress leads to long-term hypertension, it does give rise to steep spikes in blood pressure.

When you’re under stress, your body releases hormones and narrows your blood vessels. This temporarily amplifies your blood pressure.

Stress also leads to hypertension indirectly, based on your reaction to stressful situations. People tend to overcome stress by drinking alcohol, smoking and eating unhealthy foods.

These habits increase your blood pressure and lead to hypertension. It also works backward. When your blood pressure increases, stress is one of the effects that you may experience.

Stress and hypertension can put you in a vicious cycle. You may need to undergo certain lifestyle changes to break this pattern.

What are some common hypertension complications?

High blood pressure has the potential to damage your blood vessels and arteries, thus, in turn, damaging your vital organs as well. Some hypertension complications are as follows:

Heart attack
Stroke
Heart failure
Narrowed or weakened blood vessels in the kidney
Damaged blood vessels in eyes
Aneurysm
Memory related complications
Dementia

Apart from these health problems, hypertension also leads to certain psychological conditions like increased anger, anxiety, losing control of your mind, etc.

How to prevent and manage hypertension?

Hypertension, though widely prevailing, can be controlled, prevented, and managed by making some lifestyle changes.

Quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption
Doing workouts to lose bodyweight
By practicing workouts such as aerobics and cardio
Reduce the intake of sodium in food. You can do this by reducing the use of salt in your food
Get ample amount of sound sleep
Practice meditation and breathing exercises
Limit the intake of excessive fats and trans fats

Apart from these lifestyle practices, hypertension is also managed in medical ways. Your doctor will usually check your blood pressure when you go for any health condition. Based on the severity of the blood pressure, your doctor will suggest some hypertension treatments.

If you have long-term hypertension, your doctor may prescribe certain hypertension medications you need to take regularly. Your doctor will also recommend periodic visits every 3 to 6 months for a check-up.

Can I get health insurance coverage for hypertension?

Hypertension, being one of the common health conditions, is covered under most health insurance policies, but after a certain waiting period, as it comes under the category of pre-existing diseases.

For example, many health insurance policies cover this health condition after a waiting period of 48 months.

It means that any medical expenses that you may incur regarding hypertension will be covered after 48 months from the date of purchasing your health insurance policy.

In Star Health Insurance, many policies offer a reduced waiting period. Some policies offer a waiting period of 12 months. They are:

Young Star Health Insurance Policy
Senior Citizen Red Carpet Insurance Policy

If you live in rural areas, there is a dedicated health insurance plan named Star Micro Rural and Farmers Care Insurance Policy that covers hypertension after 6 months.

To sum up

Due to the lack of awareness, high blood pressure symptoms are often perceived like a non-threatening health condition. But it poses an imminent danger to your vital organs and may lead to some other chronic diseases.

Studies show that non-communicable diseases will burden India due to lifestyle changes. Many of them can be directly and indirectly attributed to hypertension.

By following the necessary lifestyle changes and timely checkups, the threat of hypertension can be highly minimised.