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Everyday Health Heart Health Hypertension

What Is High Blood Pressure?

By Ashley Welch


High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is a common disease that occurs when the pressure in your arteries is higher than it should be.

Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood throughout the body.

If left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, vision loss, and more. (1)

What Is Considered High Blood Pressure?

If your doctor consistently reads your blood pressure as 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or higher, you will most likely be diagnosed with high blood pressure.

In 2017, the American Heart Association (AHA) updated this definition of high blood pressure from the previous 140/90 mmHg or higher. The guidelines recommend earlier intervention to prevent further increases in blood pressure that could lead to health problems. (2)

Prevalence and Risk Factors

In fact, according to the AHA, more than 100 million Americans have high blood pressure. That equates to nearly half of all adults in the United States. (3)

The following can increase your chances for developing high blood pressure:

Older Age The risk of high blood pressure increases as you age.

About 65 percent of U.S. adults have high blood pressure by age 60 or older. But the risk for prehypertension and high blood pressure has been increasing in recent years in young people, including children and teens, possibly due to the rise of obesity in these populations. (4)

African-Americans tend to develop hypertension earlier in life and often experience more severe blood pressure elevation. It is not known for sure why high blood pressure is more common in this group, but researchers theorize it may include higher rates of obesity and diabetes among African-Americans and a gene that makes African-Americans more sensitive to salt. In people who have this gene, even just one-half teaspoon of salt could elevate blood pressure as much as 5 mmHg. (5)

Being Overweight The more you weigh, the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues.

Obesity — especially abdominal obesity — also increases stiffness in arteries, which increases blood pressure. (6)

Lack of Physical Activity People who are inactive tend to have a higher heart rate and higher blood pressure than individuals that are physically active.

Not exercising also increases the risk of being overweight.

Tobacco Use When you smoke or chew tobacco, your blood pressure rises temporarily.

Being exposed to secondhand smoke also can increase your blood pressure.

Alcohol Consumption Drinking more than two drinks a day for men and more than one drink a day for women may negatively affect your blood pressure.

Stress Being under intense stress can lead to a temporary increase in blood pressure.

Chronic Conditions Having kidney disease, sleep apnea, or diabetes can affect blood pressure.

Pregnancy Being pregnant can cause an increase in blood pressure. (7)

Birth Control Women who take birth control pills are at greater risk of developing high blood pressure. It’s more likely to occur when women are overweight, have had high blood pressure during a previous pregnancy, have a family history of blood pressure, smoke, or have mild kidney disease. (8)

Secondary Hypertension: What Is It and What Causes It?

When high blood pressure arises suddenly and is a caused by an identifiable condition, it’s called secondary hypertension.

Some conditions and medicines can lead to secondary hypertension, including the following: When Is Low Blood Pressure Too Low?
 Treating Sleep Apnea

Drugs That Can Raise Blood Pressure

Medication that you take to control other health conditions, such as arthritis, epilepsy, or the common cold or allergies, can cause your blood pressure to rise.

And such medication can also interfere with the ability of hypertension drugs to keep blood pressure down.

Drugs that can negatively affect blood pressure include:

Pain Medication Common pain and anti-inflammatory medicines can lead to the retention of water, potentially creating problems with the kidneys and raising blood pressure.


Antidepressants These drugs work by changing the body’s response to chemicals that affect mood. These chemicals can also lead to an increase in blood pressure.

Examples of antidepressants that may elevate blood pressure include:

Decongestants These medicines, which include common cough, cold, and allergy drugs, are known to raise blood pressure levels and to alter the effectiveness of high blood pressure medication.

Examples include pseudoephedrine (Sudafed, Contac) and phenylephrine (Sudafed PE).

Hormones Birth control pills can also affect blood pressure. In fact, women taking birth control pills usually experience a small rise in systolic and diastolic blood pressures.

Hormone therapy that's used to relieve symptoms of menopause can also cause a small rise in systolic blood pressure.

If you know you have high blood pressure, but are considering hormone therapy, talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits of taking hormone therapy, as well as the best ways to control your blood pressure. (8,9)

Additionally, some recreational and illegal drugs, such as cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA), and amphetamines, are also known to increase blood pressure. 


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Symptoms of High Blood Pressure

Most people with high blood pressure experience no signs or symptoms of the condition, even with extremely high blood pressure.

In very rare cases, and if blood pressure reaches dangerous levels, a person may get headaches or more nosebleeds than normal.

But in the majority of cases, there are no signs or symptoms, which is why it has been dubbed the “silent killer.” (1)

Learn More About Symptoms of High Blood Pressure


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High Blood Pressure Treatment

Most people who have high blood pressure will need lifelong treatment to help ward off or delay serious health problems brought on by the condition.

Options to treat high blood pressure may include eating a healthy diet with less salt, taking medication, and incorporating additional lifestyle changes. These include exercise, limiting alcohol intake, smoking cessation, and managing stress. (4)

There’s also a variety of drugs available to treat hypertension. Some work by removing extra fluid and salt from your body to lower blood pressure, others slow down your heartbeat or relax and widen blood vessels.

For many people with high blood pressure, taking more than one medication in low doses is more effective than taking larger doses of one single drug.

Depending on your body, medical history, and severity of hypertension, your doctor may recommend one or more of the following drugs:

Learn More About How to Treat High Blood Pressure
 Lose the Salt, Not the Flavor

High Blood Pressure Diet

People with high blood pressure should watch their sodium intake and stick to a healthy diet. Your doctor might recommend the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which is comprised of foods that are low in sodium and cholesterol and rich in protein, fiber, and other nutrients.

Learn More About How Diet Can Help You Prevent or Manage Hypertension

High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy

Women can have high blood pressure before becoming pregnant or can develop it during pregnancy. When the latter happens after 20 weeks of pregnancy, this is known as gestational hypertension. This is a form of secondary hypertension caused by pregnancy, and generally goes away after delivery. (8)

In either scenario, monitoring and controlling your hypertension during pregnancy is important for your and your baby’s health.

If not treated, having high pressure while pregnant can lead to a number of complications for both mom and baby. Hypertension can affect a mother's kidneys and increase her risk of future heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke.

It can also increase the risk of preterm delivery, low birth weight, preeclampsia, placental abruption, Cesarean delivery, and HELLP syndrome (a complication that involves hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count). (11,12)

Learn More About High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy



Heart Disease Stroke Coronary Artery Disease Heart Failure Aneurysm Kidney Disease

Children and High Blood Pressure

Children who are African-American and Mexican-American are more likely to have high blood pressure than Caucasian children. (13)

Find out More About Hypertension in Children

PTSD and High Blood Pressure

A growing body of research has linked post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to high blood pressure.

Researchers aren’t sure what might be the underlying reason for the relationship between PTSD and high blood pressure, but researchers say it may have something to do with higher levels of inflammation in patients with PTSD, which may increase the risk of high blood pressure.

Since PTSD has a much higher incidence in veterans, experts say screening for high blood pressure should be routine not only in active soldiers who are at risk, but also for those who are no longer active and receive care from Veterans Affairs hospitals. (14)

Learn More About the Link Between PTSD and Hypertension

Additional reporting by Ashley Welch.




Last Updated: 5/30/2018

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Aggressive treatment seemed well-tolerated and worth greater expense, studies found.