Joshua Casas

Health Psychology
Dr. Jennifer Yaffee
Essay assignment #3
Hypertension is caused by many different factors. Before I am able to
describe the causes or developing risk factors it is best to describe what
exactly is hypertension and what it does to your body. Also the racial
differences found in hypertension. Then I will go ahead and describe the
treatments one can take to lower their hypertension/high blood pressure to
safe levels so they are not at risk for developing problem later in life.
Hypertension is having a blood pressure higher than 140 over 90
mmhg. So by definition hypertension is having high blood pressure. So
having blood pressure above this means to have tremendous force being
exerted by your blood against the walls of blood vessels which causes risk
and problems. The first main cause of hypertension is childhood
temperament. Child temperament causes a child to eat more and basically
can cause high blood pressure due to the higher levels of blood pressure the
child has.
The second factor is genetics. If a parent has risk of hypertension/high
blood pressure or even currently has high blood pressure, then they are likely
to pass it on to there offspring with a probability of 45%. That is with ne
parent. So if both parents have hypertension/high blood pressure then there
offspring has a 95% chance of having high blood pressure. Genetically
having high blood pressure can be caused by elevated sympathetic nervous

Joshua Casas
Health Psychology
Dr. Jennifer Yaffee
system activity. In other words, stress could lead to hypertension/high blood
pressure genetically if passed down from parent to offspring.
The third factor is emotional factors. Either depression, hostility or
even experiences with intense arousal can cause a person to have elevated
heart beats and cause hypertension/ high blood pressure in itself. Even
reliving or coping with certain emotional drama can also cause hypertension/
high blood pressure.
The fourth factor is chronic anger in the family environment. If a child
develops social competence skills, then they are less likely to get
hypertension/ high blood pressure and also CVD. Chronic anger in family
environment causes stress which causes hypotension. High blood pressure.
Which brings me to the fifth factor which is stress.
Stress is present in many of the factors described earlier and in many
more in real life scenarios. Everyday people are living their life and they
under go some type of stress some more then others. For example, missing a
train you need to take to get to work time. Or spilling coffee on yourself, or
even having to wake up at 2 in the morning because of your baby crying.
There is a lot of chronic stress involved in everyday life.
A few racial differences in African Americans have been found in the
incidence of hypertension/ high blood pressure. Heredity factors may be
implicated as well. There are also racial differences in neuropeptide and
cardiovascular responses to stressors influence hypertension/ high blood

Joshua Casas
Health Psychology
Dr. Jennifer Yaffee
pressure. Where a majority of African Americans live in are low income areas
that are stressful and unsafe which causes hypertension. Discrimination
faced by African Americans also causes stress. African Americans have an
increased risk of obesity which is tied to hypertension/ high blood pressure.
this can be caused by dietary factors.
John henrysism is a term used to describe a strategy for coping with
prolonged exposure to stresses. John henry battled against a drill to see who
can do the most amount of work. After wining john henry dropped dead.
Treatment for hypertension/ high blood pressure can vary depending
on the condition but most common treatment is with drugs and weight
reduction. These both can lower blood pressure and help your body get to
normal levels. An other treatment for Hypertension/high blood pressure is
cogitative behavioral treatment like meditation or muscle relaxation to calm
a person own and lower their stress.