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[H310]High Blood Pressure And Anxiety

by Paul J Johnson, Pau

There is a link between high blood pressure and anxiety. When we feel anxious one of our body's natural responses is to raise blood pressure. While this temporary spike in blood pressure is normal and usually not dangerous, anxiety can become a problem if it affects our lifestyle choices or is persistent.

For instance, when people are anxious they tend to resort to unhealthy habits such as overeating, indulging in alcohol, and smoking, all of which can dramatically increase a person's high blood pressure risk.

In addition, recurrent and frequent temporary episodes of high blood pressure and anxiety can eventually lead to the same damaging results to the blood vessels, kidneys and heart, typically caused by prolonged hypertension.

Therefore, since there are many other high blood pressure risk factors, there is no reason why you should add anxiety to the list. The following are 5 tips you can put into practice to help relieve your high blood pressure and anxiety.

1.Focus your attention on one project at a time - Instead of trying to multitask, focus all your attention on completing one task at a time. When your mind is fully absorbed on one task, you put all your mental and emotional efforts into the job at hand, which stops your mind from wondering and becoming overwhelmed with other thoughts, priorities and demands. The more overwhelmed a person feels, the less productive they are, and the more their anxiety grows.

2.Learn to say "No" - If you go out of your way to try and please everyone, you'll stretch yourself too thin and be living in a constant state of high blood pressure and anxiety. Over-committing yourself stretches you beyond your physical and emotional limits, causing you to become fatigued, stressed, overworked and rundown - all factors that lead to anxiety. You need to learn to say "No" to others who are asking more of your time than you can handle or are willing to give.

3.Limit your alcohol and caffeine intake - Both alcohol and caffeine can worsen anxiety. Therefore, when you are feeling anxious, refrain from ingesting caffeinated products including chocolate, coffee, tea, and soda. In regards to high blood pressure and anxiety and alcohol, one may think that since consuming alcohol reduces feelings of anxiety, this would be an ideal method. The truth is, while alcohol may suppress feelings of anxiety, it increases the risk of high blood pressure and depression. Thus, it is imperative to your health that you never use alcohol as a remedy for relieving anxiety as this can become a bad and deadly habit.

4.Breathe Deep - Deep breathing exercises are an excellent way to focus the mind and calm anxiety episodes. Here is one type of deep breathing exercise you can try:

 Take a deep breath by inhaling through your nose and slowly count to four while you inhale.
 Hold your breath for a count of three
 Exhale slowly through your mouth and count down from four while you exhale.
 Repeat four times

5.Engage in regular exercise - Exercise is an excellent stress reliever. It helps to clear your mind and improve your mental outlook on life. Exercise helps improve your sleep and increases your physical stamina. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins; chemicals that make your body feel good. Studies have found that people who engage in long term exercise programs (I.E. 30 minutes of daily exercise) increase their ability to cope with stress.

Moreover, don't forget that exercise also helps maintain healthy weight levels, as being overweight increases a person's risk of hypertension. However, you should first speak to your doctor before engaging in any exercise regimen.

Should you have difficulty controlling your anxiety on your own, you may want to speak with your doctor about seeking help from a qualified therapist, because the bottom line is you need to get your high blood pressure and anxiety under control.

There are considered to be two types of hypertension, these are "essential" or "secondary". Essential hypertension is said to occur when there is no recognizable medical cause for the problem, whereas secondary hypertension is a result of another illness or condition.

Often a diagnosis of hypertension will initially look for any medical conditions that may be causing the problem; if none can be found then it is usually considered as essential hypertension and treated accordingly. Over 90% of those that are diagnosed with high blood pressure are considered to have essential hypertension.

According to the authors of the author of a recent High Blood Pressure and Health Policy, high blood pressure has grown to almost epidemic proportions, They blame this on our westernized lifestyles of high fat diets, lack of exercise and long and stressful working hours.

High blood pressure is known as the 'silent killer' as there are often no symptoms shown, which makes it hard for a person to spot.

However there have been studies carried in recent years, which have begun to show that people suffering from anxiety are likely to suffer from high blood pressure. These studies have shown that this is particularly likely to happen in women more than in men.

Although it is not thought that anxiety actually causes a person to suffer constantly with high blood pressure, it seems to cause temporary spikes in those who do suffer with high blood pressure. If these spikes happen frequently then they can actually start to cause damage to a person's blood vessels as well as their heart and kidneys in much the same way as a person who is suffering with high blood pressure persistently.

It is not clear why depression and anxiety may elevate blood pressure, but it may be linked to how the nervous system behaves in those with anxiety and depression.

Other studies have shown that people with anxiety have shown more exaggerated responses in the nervous system when facing day to day activity, and the nervous system controls many of the functions in the body that we are not consciously aware of.

There is some compelling evidence that there is a connection between hypertension and anxiety, and most doctors will look for their patients to make lifestyle changes along with taking medication and changing their diet to alleviate high blood pressure.

Continue reading to discover natural methods to combat high blood pressure by signing up for our free newsletter.

The link between high blood pressure and anxiety or stress can often be witnessed in small part when someone has their blood pressure taken in a clinic. They can often fall foul of "lab coat" or "white coat" hypertension, which is basically a stress response to having the blood pressure taken in a clinical environment.

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