Many things contribute: heredity, overweight, high emotional stress, no exercise, and too much alcohol. For some patients too much salt in the diet makes the pressure rise.

Salt is composed of two chemicals: chlorine and sodium. However, each element can play a role when attached to other chemicals or other elements. Sodium in any situation triggers increased blood pressure in those patients sensitive to it. Some experts say sodium results in hypertension in only 20 percent of the population; so if your pressure isn’t going up, you need not change your salt-eating habits. But if it is rising, cut back to 2 grams a day by shunning the salt shaker and avoiding processed foods high in salt or sodium.

Contrary to what you may have heard your blood pressure need not increase with age. Dr. Lot Page of the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland, studied the natives of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. He found no increase in either their body weight or their blood pressure as they grew older. Scientists have made similar findings in studies of other primitive peoples. The lifesaving lesson for survival: exercise – and don’t gain weight.

In the last 20 years, scientists have learned that blood pressure is controlled by many different systems in the body. For example, your kidneys release chemicals that either increase or decrease blood pressure. So do your adrenal glands, found atop each kidney. Doctors have also discovered a hormone produced by the heart called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF). As blood pressure rises in the heart, ANF is released, causing a reduction in pressure.

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