How Does Stress Affect Blood Pressure?
- Everyday cares and concerns are the most common stressors.
Stress causes an increase in blood pressure. Stress induces the hypothalamus, located at the base of the brain, to trigger the release of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline causes the heart to beat faster and the blood vessels to constrict. This in turn increases the body's blood pressure. Cortisol causes an increase in glucose in the blood stream, thereby making more glucose available to the brain as it plans an appropriate response to the stressor. Cortisol also temporarily slows down other systems in the body such as the digestive, immune and reproductive systems that are not particularly useful in a flight-or-fight situation. Once the stressful condition has subsided, the body returns to normal. However, it becomes a great danger to your health and well-being if you are always stressed, because then your body is in a constant state of alert. - Overextending yourself can increase your stress.
Medical science has not created a definitive cause-and-effect link between stress and long-term high blood pressure or hypertension. However many doctors believe that chronic stress is a risk factor for high blood pressure because your body never fully recovers from the stress response. In addition, when you are always stressed, you are more likely to engage in behaviors that are also risk factors for high blood pressure and heart disease such as not sleeping, not exercising, smoking and overeating. Therefore it is imperative that you do whatever you can to manage your stress. - There are things you can do to reduce your stress, especially stress that emanates from everyday problems that will always be there. These include regular exercise, taking deep breaths, meditation, yoga and other relaxation techniques, psychotherapy, taking control of your schedule and not spreading yourself too thin.
