Lesson 3 - High Risk Factors

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African-Americans
Hypertension is most prevalent within the African-American population. More than 70% of elderly African-Americans are hypertensive. Not only is it more common, it tends to develop earlier and is often more severe. In fact, high blood pressure affects about one third of the African-American population. Furthermore, although essential hypertension is somewhat rare in children, African-American children are more likely to develop the condition than other children are. However, you should know that adequate treatment can produce equally effective results in lowering blood pressures in African-Americans as in other populations.

Family tree
There is still a great deal of mystery surrounding hypertension and its causes. Medical professionals have had a hard time pinpointing exactly what variables combine to cause the condition. However, research has shown that heredity a another factor in the development of high blood pressure. Children of hypertensive parents or grandparents are at a higher risk of developing hypertension than an individual who has no history of the condition in his or her family.

Lifestyle
As noted so many times in the last two lessons, your lifestyle plays a huge role in the likelihood of developing hypertension. Being overweight, sedentary, consuming high levels of salt, and over-consumption of alcohol all increase your chances of developing hypertension. It is important to monitor your lifestyle for so many other reasons — to date, there is no school of thought that encourages excess weight, lack of activity, high sodium diets, and copious amounts of alcohol for a healthy lifestyle. The high risk of hypertension is but one more important reason to keep tabs on your diet and exercise regimens. Unfortunately, due to the role heredity plays in hypertension development, some people, regardless of sex, race or age, develop the condition in spite of the lifestyle measures they have taken to avoid it. If this is the case, it is still important to monitor your lifestyle choices, along with taking hypertension medication in order to keep your high blood pressure under control.

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