Are you finding that you have high blood pressure which is starting to worry you?  If so, maybe you are asking the question, what causes my blood pressure? In this article, we break down the mechanics of blood pressure and what the main inputs are for raising blood pressure. With this information you can better understand what might be influencing your blood pressure.

If you want to understand what causes high blood pressure, keep reading. 

Causes Of High Blood Pressure

We want to examine some of the causes of high blood pressure.  We will break it down in a simple way, so you can understand what the overall controlling mechanisms are.  If we look at your cardiovascular system as a system of pipes, we can see there are two main things that affect the overall pressure in that system.  One is the overall volume of fluid that's in the tubes.  The other is the amount of tension in the pipes that hold that fluid.  Those pipes are known as arteries, of course.  Your body has various mechanisms to regulate the amount of fluid in the system and the amount of tension that's in those arteries.

This, of course is how many medications work by exploiting these different mechanics that our bodies aren't naturally doing.  We can use that to our advantage, to lower blood pressure, and when needed to raise blood pressure.  So when you have high blood pressure, it means some of the internal mechanisms of your body that regulate blood pressure are not working the way they should.  Let's look a little bit deeper at what some of the mechanisms are controlling the fluid and the tension. 

Fluid Causes High Blood Pressure

The fluid in the system is mainly regulated through your kidneys.  The kidneys do this by changing the concentration of salt, sodium and potassium, that's in your blood.  The water in the arteries then follows sodium.  With higher sodium in the blood there is higher fluid retention in your blood. This is why sometimes it's thought to help blood pressure by reducing sodium intake.  This sometimes does work, but most people are not salt sensitive.  Since this is not the underlying reason, most people have high blood pressure it doesn't always work. 

Cortisol the stress hormone actually encourages more sodium retention and reabsorption of that sodium through the kidneys and back into the blood. This is one way that stress can increase your blood pressure.  As far as tension in those arteries, narrowing of the arteries with atherosclerosis is something that comes into play.

Tension Causes High Blood Pressure

When we think about the overall tension in that system plaque buildup causes stiffening of those arteries.  With this there is less ability of those arteries to expand.  Arteriosclerosis and hardening of the arteries happens through a combination of things like high cholesterol, inflammation, high insulin, and other factors.  These are are referred to collectively as, endothelial dysfunction.

If we look at an artery cross section, the innermost part of the artery structure is called the endothelium.  That internal tissue responds to various inputs from both the local environment and also from systemic hormones that are floating through the blood.  Problems with the endothelium is known as endothelial dysfunction, and that's thought to be an underlying cause for some people that have high blood pressure.  Of course, high stress situations do produce cortisol, which can increase the fluid, and also produces adrenaline and adrenaline like molecules.   These molecules tend to constrict arteries.  That constriction and tension creates more pressure in the system, regardless of how much fluid is present.

So what causes high blood pressure? Well, there are many causative factors involved with elevated blood pressure, but all those causative factors are going to influence these two things.  Either increased volume in the system for one reason or another, or decreased elasticity and hardening of those arteries.

That should give you a better understanding of what causes high blood pressure.  If you have questions about the content in this article, please ask it in the comment section below.

If you want a customized plan on how lower your blood pressure, click in the link below to get started.