What Causes High Blood Pressure in Young Adults | Causes of Hypertension

High blood pressure is a disease of the cardiovascular system which is also called hypertension. It’s a silent killer and a new threat to the young age population and in young adults. You should know about the causes of high blood pressure in young adults to save your life. The worst thing with high blood pressure is that you may not know you have it. As a result, you do not experience any symptoms of high blood pressure in the early stage of the disease. On other hand, high blood pressure can cause Heart Attacks in young adults.

What is the Definition of Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure is the force of blood that is generated by your heart. Each heartbeat has two components, systole and diastole. Your heart pumps the blood into your arteries in the systolic phase. Therefore, blood pushes the wall of arteries with a force which is called blood pressure.  Atria of your heart relaxed to receive the blood back from the body in the diastolic phase. The blood pressure is always measured as Systolic Blood pressure and Diastolic Blood pressure.

For example, if your blood pressure reading is 120/80 mmHg, then 120 is your systolic blood pressure and 80 is diastolic blood pressure.

• Upper Value is called Systolic Blood pressure (120)
• The lower-Value is called Diastolic Blood pressure (80)

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Hypertension is determined both by the resistance to blood flow in your arteries and the amount of blood is being pumped into arteries by your heart. Your body cells & tissues require oxygenated blood to function well. Firstly, if arteries are narrowed then the demand for oxygenated blood increases. Secondly,  your heart tries to push more blood to furnish the demand of your body cells which leads to high blood pressure further.

Categories of High Blood pressure

Normal Blood pressure

• Systolic Blood Pressure: 110-120 mmHg
• Diastolic Blood pressure: 70-80 mmHg

Elevated High Blood Pressure

• Systolic Blood Pressure: 120-130 mmHg
• Diastolic Blood pressure: 80-90 mmHg

Moderately High Blood Pressure

• Systolic Blood Pressure: 130-140 mmHg
• Diastolic Blood pressure: 90-100 mmHg

Severely High Blood Pressure 

• Systolic Blood Pressure: > 140 mmHg
• Diastolic Blood pressure: > 100 mmHg

Types of High Blood pressure

Hypertension can be divided into two types mainly.

Essential (Primary) Hypertension

Primary hypertension is developed gradually over many years. It’s the most common type of high blood pressure and develops over time as you get older but can be at any age of life. In this type of hypertension, there is no identifiable cause of high blood pressure.

Most young adults fall under this category of hypertension. Despite years of research, there is no specific cause is ascertained yet for primary hypertension. But it’s thought that primary hypertension is caused by a combination of genetics, age, lifestyle and dietary factors. Above all, these factors contribute to and cause high blood pressure in young adults.

Secondary High Blood Pressure

Secondary hypertension is caused by some other disease, medical condition or certain medicines. Only 5 to 10% of hypertension patients fall in this category. Most importantly,  30%-34% of those ages 18-40 years with hypertension have secondary hypertension.

It tends to appear suddenly, and various medications and conditions trigger secondary hypertension.

• Certain congenital diseases or defects of blood vessels
• Birth control pills
• Decongestants
• Over the counter pain relief drugs
• Illegal drugs such as cocaine
• Kidney Failure, other Kidney Disease
• Hyperthyroidism
• Adrenal Gland Disorders
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Narrowing of arteries supply blood to kidneys

Resistant Hypertension

This type of hypertension is difficult to treat and multiple ant-hypertensive medications are required.

Malignant Hypertension

This is an emergency condition and can damage your organs. Therefore, Malignant hypertension is considered the most severe type of hypertension.

WhiteCoat Hypertension

Whitecoat hypertension is a condition when your blood pressure increases temporarily. The cause of whitecoat high blood pressure is a stressful occurrence like you are in Doctor’s office.  A stressful event or fear of the disease can resulting into high blood pressure.

High Blood Pressure Symptoms

Most people are left undiagnosed and have no symptoms of hypertension, even if blood pressure reaches a severely high level. Very few people with high blood pressure may have some symptoms of hypertension like:

• Headaches
• Epistaxis (bleeding from the nose)
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Chest Pain

If high blood pressure is left undiagnosed can because in death due to a heart attack in young age.

Causes of High Blood Pressure in Young Adults

Bad Dietary Habits

Your dietary habits are the main culprit of hypertension. Fast food, a high-calorie diet and high-fat foods cause obesity and fat deposits in your body. Obesity and a high-calorie diet leads to high blood sugar and causes cholesterol deposits in arteries which further leads to narrowing of arteries and high blood pressure.

Smoking and Using Tobacco

Smoking and chewing tobacco is another major cause of hypertension and coronary artery disease. Tobacco immediately increases your blood pressure temporarily, and on other hand, it damages the inner lining of your arteries.  The damage to arteries increases the risk of blood clots in arteries and narrowing of arteries which causes high blood pressure in young adults.

Lifestyle and the Obesity

Sedentary lifestyle, not being physically active and lack of exercise become causes of higher heart rates. Bad dietary habits and lack of physical activities further increase weight and obesity. Your heart works harder to push the blood into arteries. Lack of sleep, work pressure, stress and anxiety are other causes of high blood pressure in young adults.

High Salt Diet

Too much salt in your diet promotes fluid and water retention in your body. High fluid retention and fluid overload increase blood pressure.

High Alcohol intake

Heavy drinking can damage your heart which also causes high blood sugar. However, a low quantity of alcohol is good for health, but if alcohol consumption is high it causes high blood pressure and other ailments like Liver Failure and Cirrhosis of the Liver. 

Chronic Medical Conditions

Certain chronic medical conditions like diabetes, kidney disease, respiratory disorders and some congenital disease also cause high blood pressure in young adults.

What are the Complications of High Blood Pressure

• Heart attack and Coronary artery diseases
• Stroke and CVA
• Heart Failure
• Aneurysm
• Kidney failure
• Metabolic disorders
• Dementia
• Brain haemorrhage

You should monitor your blood pressure regularly as it’s a silent killer. You do not experience any symptom initially even it reaches to a high level. If you found your blood pressure is rising, consult with your doctor right away. Early diagnosis can save you and your organs.