Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood in your arteries. Your arteries are the blood vessels (tubes) that carry blood from your heart to your brain and other parts of your body. You need a certain amount of pressure to move blood throughout your body.
Your blood pressure naturally rises and falls throughout the day and night, and it is normal for your blood pressure to increase when you move. When your overall blood pressure is consistently high, even when you are resting, something needs to be done.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Hypertension also puts a person at risk of serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, and heart failure, among others. This is why knowing the causes of sudden high blood pressure or a spike in blood pressure is important because it can help people reduce their risk of these complications.
What Causes of You Often Overlook?
1. Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that causes a person to stop and start breathing repeatedly during the night, is one of the unusual causes of high blood pressure. And sleep apnea is becoming more common as more people become overweight. Being overweight is one of the leading risk factors for sleep apnea.
When someone has sleep apnea, their brain kicks in and wakes their body up to breathe; this can happen 30 times or more an hour. And when we don’t get good quality sleep (and especially if we don’t get good quality sleep because our airways are closed and our brains and bodies have to stay aware enough to try to open them up) it’s very hard on the vascular system.
All that stress and fatigue is what causes high blood pressure, and not just when we’re asleep but when we’re awake the rest of the day. It’s also linked to a host of other health problems, including an increased risk of heart attack, type 2 diabetes, and liver problems. Severe sleep apnea in middle or older age can increase your risk of early death by up to 46 percent.
Snoring is a common warning sign of sleep apnea, so if someone tells you that you snore loudly or gasp frequently while you sleep, talk to your healthcare provider.
2. Irregular sleep schedule
Apnea isn’t the only thing in your sleep cycle that can cause sudden high blood pressure. People who don’t get six to eight hours of sleep at a time can develop high blood pressure. Some studies have found that sleep deprivation can increase blood pressure not only during the night, but also the next day.
3. Full bladder
A full bladder is one of the causes of sudden high blood pressure that you can control. When your bladder is full, it sends signals to your brain to activate your nervous system, which can cause high blood pressure.
4. Overdose on black licorice
Eating too much black licorice (both real food and licorice-flavored candy) can be dangerous to your health, and not just because of its sugar content. The candy contains a compound called glycyrrhizin, which comes from the licorice root, which can cause your body to retain more salt and water, raising your blood pressure. Eating black licorice can also lead to low potassium levels and irregular heartbeats. And if you have certain pre-existing medical conditions, like low potassium or high blood pressure, you may be more sensitive to glycyrrhizin.
5. Not enough potassium
Too much sodium is a well-known cause of high blood pressure. But a diet rich in potassium is one way to lower it.
Salt raises blood pressure, but potassium lowers it by causing our bodies to release sodium. About 75 percent of the sodium most people consume is already in the food they buy. So replacing processed foods and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is key to increasing potassium and decreasing sodium.
6. Loneliness
If you are socially isolated, your cortisol levels increase, causing you to respond in a fight-or-flight fashion. Several studies have shown that in adults between the ages of 45 and 85, being single, less socially active, or having a smaller social network is associated with higher-than-average blood pressure.
How can I prevent high blood pressure?
Controlling your blood pressure is also a way you can help prevent high blood pressure, including:
- Exercise regularly.
- Don’t smoke or quit if you smoke.
- Limit your alcohol intake.
- Maintain a moderate weight.
- Eat a balanced, low-sodium diet.
- Manage stress.
