Blood Pressure
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Obesity
43. The second biggest risk factor for causing high BP after smoking is obesity. There is a convincing relationship between body weight and BP. Overweight people with Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over are 2-6 times more likely to develop high BP than if you are at your normal and desirable weight. Each gram of extra fat needs servicing by literally kilometers of new blood vessels, which means the heart must beat harder with each stroke to push blood through that extra fat tissue.
44. High BP also develops because obese people’s bodies have to work harder to burn up the excess calories they consume to support their higher basic metabolic needs, partly because they tend to eat more salt than normal and possibly because fat people have a tendency to be resistant to the hormone insulin, which deals with blood sugars and this may be involved in causing high BP.
45. High BP can also be caused by narrowing of the blood vessels in all tissues due to fatter cells in obese people. Direct excess weight pressure over the abdominal organs, like the kidneys, may also result in high BP.
45A Obese children who watch a lot of television are more likely to have high blood pressure than heavy children who don’t spend as much time in front of the tube. Increased psychological stress and junk food eaten while watching TV could be factors in the relationship, researchers from University of California, San Diego, reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Obese children who watched 2 to 4 hours of TV each day were 2½ times more likely to have high blood pressure. Kids who watched more than 4 hours daily had more than triple the risk.
46. Population surveys have shown that the variation in BP between people in relation to their weight is about 1 mmHg per kilogram in weight. When you put on weight, the amount you gain is a good guide to the amount by which your BP will rise.
Stress
47. Stress is often mentioned as a risk factor for high BP, but stress levels are hard to measure, and response to stress also varies from person to person. Some stress is inevitable for the progress of the individual. We can’t completely avoid stress from our daily life. Some amount of stress or deadlines are needed for us to perform at our optimum level. It is when the stress becomes chronic, unrelieved, persistent and nagging that we need to take care of it.
