What Is The Connection Between Fatigue And High Blood Pressure
Fatigue and high blood pressure are linked in several ways. In people with chronic high blood pressure who are not receiving treatment, fatigue can be a symptom, as well as an indicator of damage to the cardiovascular system. In addition, certain medications used to manage high blood pressure have fatigue as a side effect, especially during the adjustment period when patients first start taking the medication. High blood pressure is usually associated with a constellation of other symptoms.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is defined as the point when blood pressure measurements start reaching 140/90 or higher. Many people do not experience symptoms, especially in the early stage, and the increased pressure does not directly cause fatigue. If the patient is not treated, however, the chronic hypertension starts to damage the organs of the body, including the kidneys, heart, eyes, and brain.
What Are The Symptoms Of High Blood Pressure
It will be unusual to talk about the relationship between tiredness and high blood pressure without mentioning the other symptoms of high blood pressure.
As I said earlier on, hypertension is usually without symptoms in the vast majority of people with the disease. But one or two symptoms will lead your physician to suspect high blood pressure as the cause of your problem.
Some symptoms of high blood pressure will include:
- Headache
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How Does Sleep Apnea Treatment Affect Blood Pressure
CPAP treatment doesnt actually lower blood pressure levels, but it prevents the events that lead to blood pressure increasing at night. By removing the airway blockages that lead to arousals during the night, CPAP prevents the production of nighttime norepinephrine, and in the process stops blood pressure from rising to abnormal levels.
A telltale sign that severe OSA is making your hypertension worse is when many of the normal solutions for treating high blood pressure, such as getting more exercise and implementing a healthier diet, dont work. In this case, especially if you snore during the night which is a major sign of airway blockage, theres a strong likelihood your hypertension wont improve unless your sleep apnea is treated. This is where seeing a doctor about your untreated OSA becomes especially important.
Sleep Apnea Forces The Heart To Work Harder
The airway blockages created by obstructive sleep apnea cause your blood pressure to increase, because your heart is working harder to get oxygenated blood flowing through your body.
While youre asleep, sleep apnea triggers the brain to pump more blood to key areas like the brain and heart. This puts added pressure on your artery walls and spikes your blood pressure higher than if you were breathing normally while asleep.
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Medical Signs Of Hypertension
The easiest way to find out if you have high blood pressure is to take your blood pressure reading.
Measuring your blood pressure is very simple and painless. It is carried out with a device called a sphygmomanometer . Within seconds, your doctor can measure your blood pressure.
The results work like this:
- Anything between 120/80 and 140/90 is called the pre-hypertension stage. This often leads to hypertension
- Between 140/90 and 160/100, you are in stage 1 hypertension
- Between 160/100 and 180/110, you are in stage 2 hypertension
- Above 180/110, you are in stage 3 hypertension
People in stage 3 hypertension tend to suffer from secondary hypertension, which is a form of high blood pressure. This can be caused by:
- kidney disease
Other signs of secondary hypertension include:
- No effect from high blood pressure medication
- Suddenly high blood pressure
- No one in your family who has had hypertension before
With either primary hypertension or secondary hypertension, its very important that you talk to a doctor for high blood pressure. This is the only way to understand what type of hypertension youre suffering from and which treatment is best for you.
Diagnosing High Blood Pressure
The only way to find out whether you have high blood pressure is to have your blood pressure checked regularly. Ask your GP when you are next due for yours to be checked.
Before having your blood pressure taken, you should rest for at least five minutes and empty your bladder. To get an accurate blood pressure reading, you should be sitting down and not talking when the reading is taken.
Having one high blood pressure reading does not necessarily mean that you have high blood pressure. Your blood pressure can change throughout the day. Feeling anxious or stressed when you visit your GP can raise your blood pressure .
Therefore, your GP will need to take several readings over a set period of time, usually every month, to see whether your blood pressure level is consistently high.
Blood and urine tests may also be carried out in order to check for conditions that are known to cause an increase in blood pressure, such as kidney infections.
You may also be given a blood pressure device to take home so that you can record your blood pressure level throughout the day. This also helps to identify white coat syndrome and therefore helps to identify the best treatment options for you.
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You Shouldn’t Ignore White Coat Hypertension
Some people experience white coat hypertension, when blood pressure is elevated in the doctor’s office but not in other settings. These patients need to monitor their blood pressure at home or wear an ambulatory blood pressure monitor that takes your blood pressure every 30 minutes for 24 hours.
While white coat hypertension was formerly considered simple nervousness, recent research suggests otherwise.
A study published in the journal Hypertension found that people with white coat hypertension are at a significantly greater risk for developing sustained high blood pressure than people who have normal blood pressure. One possible explanation is that people with white coat hypertension have a harder time managing stress and anxiety.
Does High Blood Pressure Make You Tired If Youexperience Unexplained Fatigue Go To A Doctor Immediately As It May Be Due To Hypertension If Untreatedhypertension Can Lead To Further Complications Like Heart Attack And Stroke
Hypertension and Fatigue | Does High Blood Pressure Make You Tired
High blood pressure is a common condition these days. Most people are unaware of the fact that they are suffering from high blood pressure until their levels become so high that they start experiencing symptoms like fatigue and lethargy. These signs can hamper a person from performing his day to day activities. Hence, these should be dealt with as early as possible.
Normally, you feel fatigued after performing a physically or mentally strenuous activity or if you are not rested properly. It is defined as a temporary loss of energy and strength and a general feeling of listlessness. However, when fatigue is experienced without any apparent cause, it is usually a sign of underlying problems one of which is hypertension. This happens because there is insufficient circulation of blood and oxygen in the body. This can damage vital organs like the heart, brain and the kidneys. Hence, it is recommended to treat fatigue immediately. If it is due to hypertension, then it will only go away if blood pressure is brought under control.
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Can High Blood Pressure Make You Feel Tired
Feeling tired may be connected to high blood pressure itself. It may also be a symptom of a coexisting condition. Left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to several serious complications that can cause fatigue.
Lets take a closer look at some of the ways that high blood pressure may result in feelings of fatigue or tiredness.
How Hypertension Affects Your Body
Its normal for your blood pressure to fluctuate throughout the day, but its not normal for it to be consistently high.
Left untreated, hypertension can damage your heart and contribute to severe health issues that can lead to a disability or even premature death. Some of these include:
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Stroke
- Kidney Disease or Failure
As mentioned earlier, about half of people experiencing hypertension have obstructive sleep apnea as well. Hypertension doesnt cause sleep apnea, but there is a connection between the two.
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So Can High Blood Pressure Make You Tired
You already probably know the answer from the forerunner to this but for avoidance of doubt, if you want the answer to the question: can high blood pressure make you tired?
The answer is yes, high blood pressure can make you tired. Yes, high blood pressure can cause fatigue. Yes, high blood pressure can make you feel exhausted most of the time.
For the most part, people with high blood pressure tend not show any symptoms. Hence, if you are not someone already diagnosed with hypertension the finger-pointing exercise will probably be in the wrong direction.
This is particularly so if you are one of those with masked high blood pressure. These are individuals with high blood pressure that is not obvious to their doctor when their blood pressure is measured.
These folks have normal blood pressure in front of their doctor but in actual fact they have high blood pressure in their day to day lives. The exact opposite of white coat hypertension. The only way to diagnose these folks is through ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure monitoring.
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring will reveal the aha moment. High blood pressure diagnosed. Cause of tiredness and fatigue uncovered. Problem solved.
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What Is The Link Between Sleep Apnea And Hypertension
In addition to the other health conditions hypertension contributes to, high blood pressure can also make sleep apnea symptoms worse, and vice versa. These two conditions have a cyclical effect upon each other, which is bad news if you happen to have both.
Obstructive sleep apnea restricts your breathing by blocking your airways. The blocked airway restricts how much oxygen enters the body, which puts added stress on your cardiovascular system.
In whats known as blood pressure dipping, blood pressure can lower between 10 and 20 percent each night in healthy individuals. Those with obstructive sleep apnea experience dips of less than 10 percent, which puts them at higher cardiovascular risk.
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Why Does High Blood Pressure Make Us Feel Tired
High blood pressure is often called the silent killer because, in most cases, it doesnt have any apparent symptoms. However, fatigue and chest pains are among the very few indicators of high blood pressure. Fatigue caused by high blood pressure occurs as a result of many different factors including the effects of condition itself, medication management and lifestyle choices. High blood pressure causes tiredness as a result of elevated pressure on vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys.
Often though, medication plays a larger role in contributing to fatigue than the actual condition does. Tiredness is often a common side effect of many medications used to lower blood pressure. Blood pressure medications may slow the pumping action of the heart, in the case of diuretics, the body can easily become depleted of essential electrolytes. The body reacts to this by producing less energy and so results in increased tiredness and fatigue. Unexplained tiredness that doesnt appear to have a cause can be a result of high blood pressure.
Maintain A Healthy Weight
Being overweight is a risk factor for having high blood pressure, and your risk increases further if you are obese.
There are two ways to check if you are overweight:
- Body Mass Index – This is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. In the UK, people with a BMI of between 25 to 30 are overweight, and those with an index above 30 are classed as obese. People with a BMI of 40 or more are morbidly obese.
- Waist size – Using a measuring tape place the tape round your waist between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hip bone. The table below indicates how much your health might be at risk, your ethnicity should also be taken into account.
| Sex | |
| Over 80 cm |
The best way to tackle obesity is by reducing the amount of calories that you eat, and taking regular exercise. Your GP can provide you with further information and advice on how you can do this.
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Eat Your Way To Better Energy And Heart Health
Your diet can play a big part in helping to lower your blood pressure. Salt can increase your blood pressure so reducing your intake can be beneficial DASH diets and Mediterranean diets are thought to be among the best diets to follow for reducing high blood pressure. To learn more about your diet and high blood pressure click here.
Some foods have the ability to lower your blood pressure and circulation whilst others are beneficial for giving you an energy boost. Our blogs 6 fantastic foods to lower high blood pressure and My top 11 foods for boosting your energy have our top food suggestions! Diets high in potassium are thought to help counteract the blood-raising effects of salt in the body. Similarly, omega-3 is thought to be a natural fatigue fighter so can be beneficial for reducing tiredness caused by high blood pressure.
Q What Can Cause Low Blood Pressure
- Pregnancy
- Nutrition deficiency in the diet
- Certain antidepressants
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Other Causes For Fatigue With High Blood Pressure
Although fatigue can be a symptom of high blood pressure, a lack of sleep may actually be a contributing factor, too.
Sleeping 5 hours or less per night may raise your risk for developing high blood pressure. And if you already have high blood pressure, lack of sleep could be making it worse.
In addition, obstructive sleep apnea is a known risk factor for hypertension, especially in older age groups.
Some prescription medications used to treat high blood pressure can also cause fatigue.
Another cause of fatigue could be due to pulmonary artery hypertension. This is when you have high blood pressure in the vessels that carry blood between your heart and lungs. Along with fatigue, it can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, and lightheadedness.
There are usually no symptoms or warning signs that you have hypertension. Thats why its so important to monitor your blood pressure.
Its especially important to see your doctor if youre experiencing:
- fatigue
- stress management
- drinking alcohol in moderation
Your doctor will also consider your age, coexisting conditions, and any other medications you take when treating your blood pressure. If necessary, your doctor may prescribe hypertension medications. These include:
Some of these medications can cause you to feel tired.
Other treatments depend on the extent of damage to your heart, kidneys, and overall health.
- following a healthy, balanced, low-salt diet
- getting regular exercise
High Blood Pressure Symptoms You Shouldnt Ignore
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If youre worried about developing high blood pressure or youve already been diagnosed with this condition, you may be wondering what symptoms to watch out for.
While the symptoms described here may indicate a high blood pressure crisis, its also very important to understand that a persons blood pressure can be dangerously high and yet there are no symptoms at all, notes retired emergency physician Ben Hippen. This is why high blood pressure is sometimes called the silent killer.
For this reason, its important to monitor your blood pressure often. When youre at your doctors office, or even at the pharmacy, take a few minutes to stick your arm in the cuff and get a reading. If you can afford it and will actually use it, a home blood pressure monitor is a worthwhile investment.
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Chronically Tired Fatigue May Be A Sign Of Heart Problems
Heart disease is one of the number one killers in the United States. Our womens health care providers are here to help you stay healthy. Thats why were spreading the word about a subtle, but dangerous sign that you could have heart disease: fatigue.
Fatigue can stop you in your tracks and even signal serious problems like heart disease. Feeling abnormally tired? Talk to our womens health care provider.
Many of us mistakenly believe that heart disease is mainly a concern for men. However, women are also at risk for this serious health condition.
Here are some quick facts on heart disease in women:
- Heart disease is responsible for 1 in every 5 female deaths
- 1 in 16 women 20 years old or older have coronary artery disease
Women often experience different symptoms of heart disease than men, which can make it hard to notice early warning signs. If youre experiencing unexplained tiredness and fatigue, come to our womens health clinicto help find the root of the problem.