It is a known fact that being overweight has direct links to hypertension. As the body is forced to carry more weight than what nature designed it to, the heart works harder to compensate.

Obesity results in an unprecedented stress over the body. The heart and arteries feel the increased weight of the fat, and the stress related to other attributes that takes place with obesity. The human body reacts to this stress by producing a certain hormone known as aldosterone which causes increased retention of sodium (salt) in the body. The more levels of sodium in body tissues - the lesser can they allow blood into the cells in order to deliver the required nutrients. This can in turn lead to an accumulation of blood in the circulatory system, which leads to high blood pressure. The more a patient weighs the more blood they need to facilitate the necessary amounts of oxygen and nutrients to their tissue. While the blood volume circulated within the blood vessels goes higher in number, so does the pressure on their artery walls.

This pressure may cause the arteries to harden, hampering the circulation of blood around the body. An individual with hypertension has a higher chance of suffering heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, dementia, blindness, and impotence.