Overweight Can Lead To High Blood Pressure

Overweight Can Lead To High Blood Pressure
Carrying excess body weight presents any number of risks to
one's health. Though it's a debatable point, the greatest
risk from being overweight may be the increased likelihood
of developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure has
earned the nickname "the silent killer" because though it's
often asymptomatic, its effects can have a devastating
impact on the body.

A number of medical studies have established a correlation
between people who are overweight and elevated blood
pressure levels. As with anything else, there is variety in
terms of how the effects are presented: specifically, the
more overweight a person is, the more likely they are to
have elevated blood pressure. Additionally, a person who is
severely overweight or obese is likely to have higher blood
pressure levels than a person who is modestly overweight.
Variation or not however, the findings are mostly certain
and the bottom line is being overweight increases high
blood pressure risk.

Breaking it down into actual percentages, men who are obese
have high blood pressure roughly forty-two percent of the
time. Women who are obese have high blood pressure roughly
forty percent on the time. While on their face these
percentages may not seem outrageous, consider that men and
women who aren't obese have high blood pressure only
fifteen percent of the time roughly. Carrying too much body
weight can then potentially triple the risk of high blood
pressure.

Though the reality that being overweight can lead to high
blood pressure is the most important point to consider, how
overweight leads to high blood pressure is information
worth knowing. Essentially what happens is people who are
overweight tend to have higher blood sugar levels than
normal, and their pancreas function produces extra insulin
to cope with breaking down sugar in their bloodstream. The
increased insulin production adversely affects several
bodily functions: increased insulin can lead to blood
vessels become thickened and rigid; increased insulin can
lead to adrenaline surges, which places extra burden on
heart functioning; and increased insulin can lead to extra
levels of salt and water absorption by the kidneys.

The typical response to overweight is that it's a problem
of appearance: losing weight means having a better body
image. While body appearance can be meaningful to people,
the risk of overweight is far more than just an issue of
how one's reflection appears in a mirror. Overweight and
obesity are legitimate threats to an individual's health
and life, both from the risk of increased blood pressure as
well as from other medical conditions.

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Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. Find help for weight
loss by visiting http://www.hubonline.biz/lose-now.htm or
http://www.hubonline.biz/get-fit.htm .