HealthTree Blog

If you’ve ever been under an extreme amount of stress and wonder if your blood pressure is affected by it, you can stop wondering because it does. In a recent study, mice were put under stressful conditions and their blood pressure increased. When the study was done on African American men, it was found that there is a gene that increases blood pressure when asked to do stressful activities. This means that not all people may respond to stress by high blood pressure, but there is a population in which this is the case and it means that they can be treated specifically for this type of high blood pressure.

What To Do if Stress Elevates Your Blood Pressure

If you know that stress elevates your blood pressure, it’s important that you  take steps to decrease stress and its effects on your body. If not, over time, you may develop other health conditions due to chronic high blood pressure. The following are some stress tips to help lower your blood pressure’s response to stressful situations.

• Breathe

When you are stressed, you’re  more likely to take shorter breathes. To help regulate your breathing, concentrate on each breath by counting them. Breathe through your nose and out your mouth for a count of ten.

• Take action

When you feel stressed, your body goes into a fight or flight response. In most cases, you take action, this response will go away. Try to do something to  help lower your stress such as taking care of a problem right away or putting things into place to rectify the issue. If you can’t do anything about the problem, then you should take flight and get away until you have recovered.

• Exercise

Exercise will get your mind off things and release hormones that will help bring your body’s response to stress down.

• Talk it out

It isn’t good for your health to keep negative thoughts. Talk to someone you trust help vent some of the tension you feel.

• Seek medical care

If you are under stress as part of your job, and it’s having an affect on your blood pressure, seek medical care from your doctor. You may need blood pressure medication or an anti-anxiety medication to help you. It’s best to get help now before you put your overall health at risk!

Photo Courtesy of: Rasmussen College – Green Bay on Flickr