Stress And Anxiety: It Can Make Your Blood Pressure Higher Than Normal
The fight or flight response is a valuable response when we are faced with an immediate, short-term threat that we can handle by fighting or fleeing. However, the shot of adrenaline and cortisol were designed to help our ancestors fight off situations like encountering a wild animal in the woods.
Unfortunately, our modern world contains many stressful events that we cant handle with those short-term options. Chronic stress causes our bodies to go into high gear on and off for days, weeks or months at a time.
This constant stress can result in the following mental and emotional symptoms:
- Irrational Anger
- Skipping exercise
How Can I Lower My Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can be treated through lifestyle changes and medicines. Everyone with high blood pressure, regardless of whether theyre on medication, should follow the lifestyle recommendations . Some people will find lifestyle improvements mean they dont need blood pressure medicines or they can take a lower dosage.
These are the Australian recommendations for lifestyle changes to lower blood pressure. If you are an older Australian or have a chronic condition , your doctor will tell you which lifestyle changes are suitable for you.
What’s A Healthy Blood Pressure Range
A healthy blood pressure range is below 120/90 mm Hg and above 90/60 mm Hg, per the US National Library of Medicine . However, exactly what normal blood pressure should be gets a little more complicated on the lower end, as the tipping point for dangerously low blood pressure can vary person to person.
It’s important to keep both your systolic and diastolic blood pressures in a normal range, Uyen Lam, MD, a cardiologist and director of the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation and Prevention Center at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, tells Health. Often, the focus is on your systolic blood pressure because it’s a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. But with every increase by 20 mm Hg systolic or 10 mm Hg diastolic, your risk of death from heart disease or stroke doubles, according to the AHA.
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How To Check Blood Pressure And What Do Readings Mean
Blood pressure is measured by using an instrument called a sphygmomanometer or a blood pressure monitor. A sphygmomanometer has an inflatable cuff that is placed around the arm.
A blood pressure reading has two numbers: one on top of the other . The top number is called the systolic pressure reading and is the pressure exerted from the heart when it pumps through the arteries. The bottom number is called the diastolic pressure reading and is the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting in between beats.
What Normal Blood Pressure Is Today
What is normal blood pressure? Normal blood pressure is a systolic number less than 120 mm Hg and a diastolic number less than 80 mm Hg. Which means that your blood pressure reading would have to be 119 over 79 or lower to fall into the normal blood pressure range.
If your Blood Pressure readings fall into this category, great for you and stick with heart-healthy habits like following a balanced diet and getting regular exercise. Keep going for regular physicals and monitor your blood pressure to make sure it stays normal.
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Tips For Making Healthy Lifestyle Changes
If you suffer with high blood pressure, its easy to feel intimidated by the changes you need to make in order to improve your health. While some people may only need to work on one or two areas to reduce their blood pressuregetting more exercise or quitting smoking, for examplemost of us find that we need to improve our habits in at least 3 or 4 areas. But even if you smoke, drink heavily, are overweight, stressed out, sedentary, and eat nothing but junk and processed food, that doesnt mean you have to tackle everything all at once. Making lots of different lifestyle changes at the same time can be overwhelming. And when we feel overwhelmed, its easy to opt for doing nothing rather than doing something.
Start gradually and make one or two changes to begin with. Once those changes have become habit, you can tackle one or two more, and so on. For example, you may decide to start by giving up smokingand adopting some relaxation techniques to help with the stress of quittingthen move on to losing weight or improving your diet.
Lose the all or nothing thinking. Doing something, no matter how small, is always better than doing nothing. If youre eating healthy food during the week, for example, then resorting to takeouts at the weekends, your blood pressure and overall health will still be in better shape than if you were eating takeout every day.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Regularly drinking too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure over time.
Staying within the recommended levels is the best way to reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure:
- men and women are advised not to regularly drink more than 14 units a week
- spread your drinking over 3 days or more if you drink as much as 14 units a week
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Eat More Of These Foods:
- Fruits like apples, avocados, kiwi, lemons and blueberries.
- Vegetables like spinach, broccoli, carrots and sweet potatoes.
- Fish and skinless chicken. The skin on the chicken contains a lot of fat so take it off prior to cooking. Some of the best fish are wild caught salmon, cod, tuna and sardines.
- The next food Im completely nuts about which are, you guessed it, nuts. You cant go wrong with almonds, walnuts, pecans or all natural peanut butter with nothing added.
- Whole grains like brown rice and oatmeal.
Your Hbp Deserves Your Attention
Uncontrolled high blood pressure can be fatal. If youve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, these five simple steps can help you keep it under control:
In many cases this will be your doctors first recommendation, likely in one of these areas:
- Maintain a healthy weight. Strive for a body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9.
- Eat healthier. Eat lots of fruit, veggies and low-fat dairy, and less saturated and total fat.
- Reduce sodium. Ideally, stay under 1,500 mg a day, but aim for at least a 1,000 mg per day reduction.
- Get active. Aim for at least 90 to 150 minutes of aerobic and/or dynamic resistance exercise per week and/or three sessions of isometric resistance exercises per week.
- Limit alcohol. Drink no more than 1-2 drinks a day.
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Home Normal Blood Pressure Monitoring Tips
If you are checking your blood pressure at home, you want to make sure the normal blood pressure readings you are taking are accurate. This way they can help you and your doctor monitor your blood pressure the best way possible. Because of this these extremely important tips can help prevent false readings.
There are times when a wrist monitor must be used. The most common reason is the upper arm is too big for traditional cuffs, or theres a mobility problem. If you find you need a wrist monitor you can check my recommendation on Amazon for the Omron Gold Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor.
Try Meditation Or Yoga
Mindfulness and meditation, including transcendental meditation, have long been used and studied as methods to reduce stress.
Yoga, which commonly involves breathing control, posture, and meditation techniques, can also be effective in reducing stress and blood pressure.
A 2013 review on yoga and blood pressure found an average blood pressure decrease of 3.62 mm Hg diastolic and 4.17 mm Hg systolic when compared with those who didnt exercise.
Studies of yoga practices that included breath control, postures, and meditation were nearly twice as effective as yoga practices that didnt include all three of these elements .
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Who Is At Risk For High Blood Pressure
Anyone can develop high blood pressure, but there are certain factors that can increase your risk:
- Age – Blood pressure tends to rise with age
- Race/Ethnicity – High blood pressure is more common in African American adults
- Weight – People who are overweight or have obesity are more likely to develop high blood pressure
- Sex – Before age 55, men are more likely than women to develop high blood pressure. After age 55, women are more likely than men to develop it.
- Lifestyle – Certain lifestyle habits can raise your risk for high blood pressure, such as eating too much sodium or not enough potassium, lack of exercise, drinking too much alcohol, and smoking.
- Family history – A family history of high blood pressure raises the risk of developing high blood pressure
Living With High Blood Pressure
Controlling your high blood pressure is a lifelong commitment. You will always need to monitor your weight, make healthy food choices, exercise, learn to cope with stress, avoid smoking, and limit your alcohol intake. If you need medicine to control your high blood pressure, you will likely need it all your life.
Additionally, you will need to get used to regular blood pressure checks. Your doctor may want you to come to the office regularly. Or you may be asked to check your blood pressure at home and keep track of your numbers for your doctor. Some pharmacies and retail clinics have blood pressure machines on site. You can buy your own, automated arm blood pressure cuff for use at home. Your doctor may want you to check your blood pressure several times a day. Another option is to use an ambulatory blood pressure monitor.
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Ways To Reduce Stress And Keep Blood Pressure Down
When it comes to preventing and treating high blood pressure, one often-overlooked strategy is managing stress. If you often find yourself tense and on-edge, try these seven ways to reduce stress.
High Blood Pressure: Prevention Treatment And Research
We all have blood pressure. This simply refers to the way blood pushes against the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps. However, one in three American adults have a potentially dangerous condition known as high blood pressure, also called hypertension. For those with high blood pressure, blood moves more forcefully through the arteries than it should.
Its normal for blood pressure to increase when you exercise or are under stress. But when the pressure is too high even when youre at rest, and stays too high for too long, it can stretch and damage your arteries. The resulting health problems from high blood pressure can include heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney damage, vision loss, and memory loss and cognitive decline.
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How To Maintain Normal Blood Pressure
Great news you have a normal blood pressure reading. To keep it that way, use these tips to avoid developing high blood pressure.
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Do you know what your blood pressure reading is? Have you had your blood pressure checked in the last year? If you are a man over age 45 or a woman over age 55, especially if you are African-American, high blood pressure is a condition you can’t ignore. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all men and women will develop high blood pressure, also called hypertension, after age 55.
High blood pressure can lead to heart attack and stroke, two of the three leading causes of death for Americans. You can have high blood pressure without experiencing any symptoms that’s why its important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. And even if you know that you have a normal blood pressure reading today, you want to do everything you can to keep it in that healthy range.
Normal Blood Pressure Basics
Blood pressure is the force your blood exerts on the walls of your arteries, the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood away from your heart. When your heart beats and forces more blood into your arteries, the force is a little higher this is called your systolic pressure. Between beats, the pressure drops this is called your diastolic pressure.
What’s Your Blood Pressure Reading?
Tips for Keeping Normal Blood Pressure
What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of High Blood Pressure
Most of the time high blood pressure doesn’t cause symptoms. In rare cases, severe high blood pressure can cause headaches, blurry vision, dizziness, nosebleeds, a fluttering or racing heartbeat, and nausea.
If your child has high blood pressure and gets any of these symptoms, get medical care right away.
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Avoid Heavy Alcohol Drinking
Drinking too much alcohol has been associated with high blood pressure. Heavy drinking also contributes to stroke. The CDC recommends that men drink two or fewer drinks per day. Women are recommended to drink one or fewer alcoholic beverages per day.
Alcoholism is a disease that is difficult to treat on your own. If you find it difficult to control your drinking, many people have successfully limited or quit drinking through counseling and drug treatment. You can reach the national substance abuse hotline anytime at: 1-800-662-HELP .
What Can I Do If My Blood Pressure Goes Up Right Before Doctors Visits
Have you ever heard of white coat syndrome? Its what happens when you typically have normal-ranged blood pressure but significantly higher blood pressure in medical settings like hospitals or doctors offices. This is often caused by feeling nervousness or anxiety around medical settings. Unfortunately, this means your health provider might think your blood pressure is higher than it really is.
White coat syndrome isnt uncommon. In fact, one study suggests that 15% to 30% of people who have high blood pressure readings might suffer from white coat syndrome. In cases like these, some patients wonder whether its possible to quickly lower their blood pressure before a reading. If youre in this situation, the safest and most effective thing you can do is try your best to relax.
Here are a few relaxation methods you can try:
If you or your doctor suspect white coat syndrome, your doctor may send you home with a blood pressure monitor that will check your blood pressure periodically throughout a normal day. This gives a more accurate reading of what your blood pressure really is and helps the doctor figure out whether the stress of a physical trip to a medical facility is affecting you.
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Cut Back On Sugar And Refined Carbohydrates
Many studies show that restricting sugar and refined carbohydrates can help you lose weight and lower your blood pressure.
Sugar, especially fructose, may increase your blood pressure more than salt, according to one 2014 review. In trials lasting at least 8 weeks, sugar increased blood pressure by 5.6 mm Hg diastolic and 6.9 mm Hg systolic .
A 2020 study that compared various popular diets found that for people who with more weight or obesity, low carb and low fat diets lowered their diastolic blood pressure by an average of about 5 mm Hg and their systolic blood pressure 3 mm Hg after 6 months .
Another benefit of a low carb, low sugar diet is that you feel fuller longer, because youre consuming more protein and fat.
Does Having High Blood Pressure Increase Your Risk For Covid
Were still learning about underlying health conditions and their impact on COVID-19. As such, its currently unknown whether having high blood pressure increases your risk for contracting the virus.
But could high blood pressure put you at an increased risk of complications if you do contract the virus and get sick? Researchers are working to answer that question.
A recent study investigated more than 2,800 hospitalized individuals with confirmed COVID-19 in China. Investigators made the following observations related to high blood pressure:
- Out of all study participants, 29.5 percent had high blood pressure. Of those with high blood pressure, 83.5 percent were taking medications to manage their condition.
- There was a twofold increase in the risk of death due to COVID-19 in people with high blood pressure when compared to those without high blood pressure.
- Those with high blood pressure who werent taking medications to manage their condition were at a greater risk for death compared to those who took blood pressure medications.
- After a meta-analysis, blood pressure medications like ACE inhibitors and ARBs were associated with a lower risk of death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently updated their list of factors that put an individual at increased risk for serious illness due to COVID-19.
While a specific type of high blood pressure pulmonary hypertension is listed as a risk factor for serious illness, general hypertension is currently not.
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