Around 16 million people in the UK are estimated to have high blood pressure, but almost five million are thought to be unaware they have it, according to the British Heart Foundation. Also known as hypertension, high blood pressure can increase the risk of serious health problems including heart attacks, kidney disease and strokes.
High blood pressure does not usually cause any symptoms, and many people have it without realising it. Rarely, it can cause symptoms such as headaches, blurred vision, or chest pain. The NHS has stressed that the only way to find out if you have high blood pressure is to get your blood pressure checked.
Everyday habits that can raise blood pressure
A number of factors can increase your risk of high blood pressure, including everyday habits such as eating too much salt, being physically inactive, and not getting enough sleep. Here are seven habits that could contribute to raised blood pressure.
Eating too much salt: the NHS says that to lower your blood pressure you must not eat too much salt, and has urged people to avoid salty food and adding salt to meals. Adults should have no more than 6g of salt a day (around 1 level teaspoon), including the salt already in food and the salt added during and after cooking. Most of the salt we eat is already in our food before we buy it, so we often end up eating more salt than we realise.
While foods such as microwave meals, takeaways and snacks like crisps are well known for being high in salt, many other everyday foods can also contain significant amounts. According to the British Heart Foundation, these include cheese, breakfast cereals, canned soups, bread, pastries and pizzas, biscuits, cookies and cakes, processed meats like sausages, bacon and ham, and sauces like gravy, ketchup and soy sauce.
Sleep, smoking and alcohol
Poor sleep has been linked to high blood pressure. Many studies have shown people who have trouble sleeping are more likely to have high blood pressure, according to Blood Pressure UK. Sleeping less than five hours a night, insomnia and interrupted sleep all appear to raise blood pressure, and this effect seems to be stronger in women than in men, and during middle-age.
To lower your blood pressure, the NHS has urged people not to smoke. It added that NHS Better Health has free tools and support to help you lose weight, get active, quit smoking and drink less in order to lower blood pressure levels. Smoking causes a temporary spike in blood pressure and heart rate every time you have a cigarette, and over time the chemicals in cigarettes can begin to clog your arteries and reduce the space for blood to flow properly.
The NHS states that to lower your blood pressure, "do not drink too much alcohol – avoid drinking more than 14 alcohol units a week on a regular basis." While risk factors like eating too much salt, physical inactivity and obesity are well-known, the risk from drinking too much alcohol is often overlooked, the British Heart Foundation has warned. Alcohol can stop receptors in the brain that help regulate blood pressure from working properly, which stops your body from responding to changes in blood pressure and can lead to long-term high blood pressure. Alcohol is also high in calories and can lead to weight gain, which is another risk factor for high blood pressure.
