High Blood Pressure Banner

Cause high blood pressure

Often there's no cause for high blood pressure. High blood pressure is more common in some families. Furthermore, obesity and the use of a lot of salt, a lot of liquorice and a lot of alcohol can increase blood pressure. Blood pressure can also rise due to the use of certain medicines, such as some painkillers (such as ibuprofen and diclofenac), the contraceptive pill or corticosteroids (prednisone). In rare cases.

Effects of high blood pressure

High blood pressure is not a disease, but it does increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (e.g. a stroke or a heart attack). It is what we call a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The risk of cardiovascular disease is not only determined by your blood pressure. Smoking, stress and diabetes, for example, also affect it. Even if you already have (or have had) a cardiovascular disease, or if the cholesterol level in your blood is too high, you have an increased risk of developing (new) cardiovascular diseases. If you have more of these types of risk factors, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease is higher.

Advice in case of high blood pressure

  • Quit smoking is the most important thing. Smoking is very harmful to your heart and vessels.
  • Do you have a lot of stress try to investigate how it comes and take, if possible, measures to reduce stress? In practice, we can help you with this. Sometimes the social work or a psychologist can help you a step further.
  • Provide sufficient exercise and relaxation by at least five days a week half an hour intensive exercise, such as walking, cycling, gardening, climbing stairs or swimming.
  • Eat healthy and varied. Eat mainly fruit and vegetables, potatoes and cereal products. Choose lean milk and meat products, chicken, fish or meat substitutes. Eat little saturated fats. Instead, choose unsaturated fats such as in fatty fish, vegetable oil and dietary margarine. Do not add salt to the food or use natural alternatives such as Himalaya-salt or celtic sea salt. Eat few salty products such as crisps and salted peanuts and use as few ready-made products as possible (ready meals, soups, sauces and herb mixes), because they contain a lot of salt. Don't eat too much liquorice either. Do not drink more than two glasses of alcohol a day, and preferably not every day.