What Causes High Blood Pressure? Menopause, Alcohol + Other Surprising Triggers
Plus learn what's considered a healthy BP reading
Ever been told that your blood pressure numbers are creeping up? High blood pressure (hypertension) can increase the risk of serious health issues like heart failure, heart attack and stroke. That’s why it’s so important to find out what causes high blood pressure so you and your doctor can work together to keep your numbers in a healthy range. Here we explain what an ideal BP reading is, plus what may increase your risk of high blood pressure.
What’s considered a healthy blood pressure reading?
Your BP is measured in two ways. The first reading is your systolic blood pressure, or how much pressure is pushing against your artery walls when your heart beats. The second number is your diastolic blood pressure. This measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart is at rest. When the two are combined, the systolic reading is presented over the diastolic reading.
Keeping your blood pressure below 120/80 mmHg is considered healthy. A reading up to 130/80 mmHg is considered prehypertension. This means that while your blood pressure is above normal, it’s not yet considered hypertension, or high blood pressure. Hypertension occurs when your readings are consistently elevated over and above 130/80 mmHg.
How your blood pressure is measured
Your blood pressure changes slightly minute-to-minute in response to everything from stress to physical activity. Typically, your BP is highest midday when you’re most active and lowest overnight while you’re asleep.
To take an accurate reading, your doctor will place a blood pressure cuff on your arm. As the cuff inflates, it compresses the brachial artery. When it deflates, your artery decompresses and blood flow is restored. The cuff monitors your arterial pressure during this time, delivering readings in about 60 seconds. Home blood pressure monitors work in a similar way.
What causes high blood pressure?
There are several risk factors for elevated blood pressure. Here, five of the most common:
Menopause
For women, a top trigger of increased blood pressure is hormone changes that occur during menopause. Estrogen helps blood vessels stay flexible and open. But as that hormone declines with age, blood vessel walls can be stiffer. This means your heart has to pump a little harder to keep blood flowing, raising your BP. In fact, research in the journal Hypertension shows that going through menopause can as much as double your odds of developing hypertension.
High blood pressure is so prevalent that more than half of postmenopausal women suffer from it, confirms Barbara DePree, MD, a gynecologist, certified menopause practitioner and director of Women’s Midlife Services at Holland Hospital in Michigan.
An unbalanced diet
Both a high-sodium diet and drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure. An excess of salt can cause your body to hold onto water. And when there’s too much water in your bloodstream, it puts extra pressure on artery walls that bumps up your BP. And regularly consuming too much alcohol can narrow blood vessels, forcing the heart to pump harder.
A sedentary lifestyle
You know that regular exercise does everything from boost your memory and memory to help you shed weight. And it’s equally as important for protecting your heart. When you don’t get enough regular physical activity (at least 22 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio each day), your arteries can build up with clogging plaque and harden over time. (Learn about how exercise can lower your blood pressure here.)
Chronic stress
It goes without saying that chronic stress takes a toll on your body, and that includes your blood pressure. When you’re tense, your body releases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which increase your heart rate and constrict blood vessels. If your body is regularly churning out those hormones in excess, it can increase your blood pressure over time.
Change of seasons
Surprisingly, a study in the journal Diabetes & Vascular Disease Research suggests that seasonal variations in the weather and barometric pressure (especially as it gets cooler) can cause high blood pressure by constricting your blood vessels. That’s enough to elevate your systolic blood pressure by as much as 10 points.
The health benefit of keeping high blood pressure in check
You already know that keeping your BP from climbing reduces strain on your heart. But what you may not know is just how big a difference it can make. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that when your blood pressure is in a healthy range, it lowers your risk of developing heart disease by 60 percent. Plus it can significantly increase your life expectancy, a study in Cardiology Research and Practice shows.
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