High Blood Pressure in Teenagers (Not Overweight)!

… Continuing …

1. Having a family history of hypertension. According to Mayo Clinic, hypertension is more likely to run in families.
2. Lack of physical activity. As noted before, poor in physical activity can lead to obesity. But it is not only about obesity. Regular exercise is also great to improve the health of blood vessels and heart and overall health in long term.
3. Poor in diet (too much sodium & saturated fats – too low in potassium & vitamin D, and lack of fiber). Childhood and adolescence are crucial period when they grow. For this reason, they need plenty of essential nutrients to get growing optimally. However, make sure they stay on healthy diet!
4. Stress! Theoretically, stress only causes a temporary raised blood pressure. But if it occurs too often, with other risk factors it can lead to hypertension.

Other rare lifestyle factors that may increase the risk include cigarette smoking and abusing alcohol (chronic behavior of too much alcohol consumption). Both bad habits are more common in adults than in kids and adolescents. But even second hand smoke can have bad impact on blood pressure!

Moreover, there are also some health problems that can cause premature hypertension. Many times, these health problems may provide the answer for the cause of hypertensive teenagers without overweight.

Some of these problems include chronic high cholesterol, chronic high blood sugar, sleep apnea, problems of kidneys, and thyroid disease (such as underactive and overactive thyroid).

In addition, high blood pressure that is more associated with certain health condition is medically called as secondary hypertension.