Stress And High
Blood Pressure

Managing Stress

As we all know stress and high blood pressure are linked to many health problems. Stress can have a horrible impact on our cardiovascular health.

You have heard these stressful expressions: "this job is killing me" or "my other half or my children is going to give me a heart attack.

One of the best saying is "rush hour traffic makes my blood pressure boil".

And a new thing is affecting our stress level big time, "people on their cell phones either talking and not paying attention to how they are driving or texting while driving".

Crazy, Crazy!

Just writing about this is increasing my stress and high blood pressure.

So you see we are all familiar with stress and it is everywhere. Tell me which of these events would you find stressful: winning the lottery, buying a home, going on vacation, job promotion, or losing a job?

Changes

All of them produce stressful feelings. Anything that changes our day to day environment or patterns can be viewed as stress. Our mind does a poor job of differentiating between a real physical danger and our day to day hassle.

Our internal defenses tenses up, either with joy, anticipation or anger. Our senses become sharper, muscles tighten, the heart beats faster, blood pressure rises and breathing quickens. All of this is in preparation for us to either fight or run away.

The problem is most of us do not know how to manage our stress.

I don't do you?

Juggling work and home life or worrying about the bills in these hard economic times is stressful. One day you have a job and the next day you don't.

That one continuous thought alone surges our hormonal rush and that affects our immune system which in turn begins to wear out our body's internal defenses. Creating stress and high blood pressure.

Stress Days

Did you know that the greatest number of heart attacks occur on Mondays? Come Sunday evening you start to watch the time because you have to be in bed my a certain time so that you can wake up, to that horrible jarring sound of our timer, so that we can get to work on time. Already we are off to a bad start.

Stress and high blood pressure increases significantly when your job demands high performance but at the same time you have very little in the way of control.

Proof of Stress and Work

I am going to share some of my personal views, and some solid scientific proof of the link connecting stress and high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes and yes, ways in which we can control some of the stress in our lives.

A friend of mine who liked his work, had a happy demeanor, loving family, earning a good salary and at first didn't have to put in long working hours, suddenly his luck ran out.

Changes at his job, family illness and then financial woes became overwhelming.

His sense of control was no longer there and his financial problems was always on his mind which led to a malignant level of stress and high blood pressure.

He suffered a heart attack, but luckily survived.

But would you believe while in the hospital he was happy!

He was relieved of his work responsibilities, no telephone, blackberry, laptop, or emails. He felt like he was on vacation for the first time in years, with only family and close friends as visitors.

Again it shows that people complaining of work stress typically were in jobs with high demands and low levels of control.

Control Over Our Lives

Consider entertainers, people with a career, or someone who actually loves their work, because they are in control and is happier, they live longer. Their work gives meaning to their lives. No one to tells them what to do or when to do it.

These individuals do put high demands on themselves, but they are in control of their lives and careers.

We do not have the same type of control.

So if you are not careful you will get an anxiety attack.

In the business world, the highest level of executives make decisions and tell others to carry them out.

The real work falls on the shoulders of the lower echelon who carries the burden of getting the work done and never seems able to complete or catch up with the day's work. Our stress and high blood pressure is on the rise.

We go home each night thinking about the work still on our desk and knowing that tomorrow there will be even more.

Then the worst possible scenario is job strain with a bad marital relationship and you have the formula for stress and high blood pressure.

Now we live in a time when both men and women must work so we have to learn how to survive in these stressful times.

Lets Reconnect

This means taking a bit of time away from the children so that you and your spouse or significant other actually talk and give each other a chance to vent his or her frustrations.

Controlling our stress and high blood pressure.

I know this sound unrealistic, but it can be done. We must recognize the importance of relying on each other. Set a time each day, even as little as ten minutes just to talk and also really listen.

You say where am I going to find the time just to talk. Aaaagh!

But we find the time to watch a ball game and spend lots of time watching television. This mindless activity lowers our stress and high blood pressure.

If you assign ten minutes to improve your relationship, vent the emotions that leads to hypertension, think how much happier your home life will be.

Controlling Your Stress

We have tremendous capabilities in controlling the mind/body connection that leads to stress and high blood pressure.

Experiment To Lower Stress

Here is an experiment to try after purchasing home blood pressure monitor to record your measurements.

Think about something that happened in your life that really made you angry.

Dwell on that negative experience for two or three minutes, then measure your blood pressure and make a note of the reading.

Now close your eyes for two to three minutes, concentrate on breathing in and out, slowly and deeply. Imagine your chest as an inflating and deflating balloon.

After that two to three minute breathing exercise, take your blood pressure again. You will be amazed at the improvement.

It might sound strange, but thinking happy thoughts when a situation would normally generate anger can medicate your mind.

Pleasant thoughts cause the release of relaxing neurotransmitter in the brain. This is not wishful thinking, but rather a scientific fact that has been documented by high tech instruments taking photos of the brain and showing the very positive effects of such mental manipulations.

It lowers our stress and high blood pressure.

Learning to cope with stress takes some effort, but with practice you will be able to better manage your stress.

Are you an animal lover? Having a pet is known to lower stress and high blood pressure.

How well do you treat yourself?

I occasionally treat myself to a massage - at least every three months and every year I go away on a vacation.

It is something to look forward to.

Just booking the appointment and planning a trip gives me such joy - it is just a great feeling. I know my stress and high blood pressure will be lowered.

Both my husband and I work very hard, at times putting in long hours every week, but we make sure there is time for fun and some relaxation.

The question is: Is work killing you?

Either you get a different job or find a way to cope.

Does your spouse or significant other often make you angry, sends up your stress and high blood pressure.

Get counseling.

Do certain issues have you losing your beauty rest at night?

Find someone to confide in who you trust like your clergyman.

Have a chat with your physician about therapy or prescription drugs.

We have to find a way to take the pressure off our hearts.

When stress and high blood pressure strike, remember these words - Is it worth dying for - hell no!

The Ravages of High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure can cause so much damage to our bodies, do you have a story to tell about this.

Or how did you overcome this silent killer. Tell us your secret.

Do Share It!

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