Many people believe that high blood pressure is caused by stress. Though stress may contribute to prehypertension, there are many other things that can also increase your risk. If you check one or more of the following boxes, you may be at higher risk.
Check any of the following that describes you:
Elevated cholesterol levels
Elevated blood sugar levels
A family history of high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease
African American
Male
35 years or older
Obese or overweight
Consume a high-salt diet
Do not exercise often
Smoke
Consume a lot of alcohol
Lead a stressful lifestyle
Diabetic
Have gout
Have kidney disease
Use oral contraceptives
Even if you do not fall into one of these categories, you should still get your blood pressure checked regularly by your physician, because prehypertension and hypertension generally do not have symptoms.
1 Suri, M F, Jawad F. Kirmani, M.D., Afshin A. Divani, Ph.D., and Yousef Mohammad, M.D. Prehypertension triples heart attack risk. Stroke Journal Report 5 Aug. 2005: 4 Dec. 2006. American Heart Association Web site. Available at: American Heart Association. Accessed December 4, 2006.
