While hypertension cannot be pinpointed to any one reason (or so the doctors say), a few lifestyle habits have been found to increase your blood pressure. In the tradition of making Here's my own list of Top Ten Reasons for Hypertension.

10.) Being stressed. Too much work can give you unnecessary stress that stays with you even after you leave the office. Stress has been proven to cause several sicknesses, one of which is hypertension.

What you can do is pace your work throughout the day, doing the harder tasks earlier on in the day.

9.) Worrying too much. This causes anxiety which has been proven to raise blood pressure. Making this a habit can cause as much damage as chronic hypertension, some experts say.

Things that you can do to relax include meditation, yoga, and massage.

8.) Eating the wrong things. Unhealthy food can cause your blood pressure to rise, even though you are not overweight or you exercise regularly.

Unhealthy food includes cholesterol, trans fat, and salt. The new food guide pyramid can start you off to eating right, and putting your blood pressure back on track.

7.) Lack of exercise. Nowadays, we spend most of our time sitting down. Lack of physical activity can lead to obesity. This is said to be a leading cause of hypertension.

Get up and walk the last few minutes to work, use the stairs instead of the elevator, and play a sport during the weekends.

6.) Being overweight. This is the brainchild of the previous two ways to get hypertension. Inadequate eating and exercising habits will force your heart to deal with all that extra weight.

A healthy eating and exercise regimen should gradually help you ease into your ideal weight (and blood pressure).

5.) Too much caffeine. A lot of people rely on coffee to keep them energized the whole day. What they don't know is that caffeine has been proven to increase blood pressure temporarily, and the more they drink coffee in one day, the more it becomes sustained.

Stick to two cups (24oz.) of caffeinated coffee a day, and you'll be fine.

4.) Binge drinking. Anxiety and stress tempt many of us to escape from reality with some alcohol. Binge drinking constricts blood vessels and can cause a 10% spike in your blood pressure. Sorry, but if you suffer from hypertension, you'll need to limit yourself to a glass of wine or a can of beer a day to stay on the safe side.

Of course, you can screw the whole thing and just follow my suggestions in #1, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Now for the top three:

3.) Smoking. Each cigarette you use increases your blood pressure by 5-10 mm Hg. The nicotine also affects the oxygen content in your body which causes your heart to work harder to make the cells healthy.

Stopping this habit will give you health benefits within minutes, instantly.

2.) Not getting enough sleep. Less than six hours of sleep per day will make you more likely to suffer from hypertension. Getting enough sleep will keep you from getting high blood pressure.

If you don't get enough rest, the heart works harder to compensate for the lower energy levels. If you snooze for less than six hours a day, see if you can take midday catnaps-these have been found to lower the risk of heart disease.

And the number one cause for hypertension?

1.) Not working my hypertension program. I'm not kidding-I've asked many of my clients to do all the tips I've illustrated in the first nine items, but it wasn't until they tried the simple exercises in my hypertension program that their blood pressure went down to ideal levels-and stayed there.

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Christian Goodman is a well known health researcher and an author of several revolutionary natural health alternative methods. One of his resent breakthrough is his research on managing high blood pressure . You can learn more about Christian on his Natural Health Blog.