Stress Management Research Paper

Mike Bazarnicki

10/7/15

Stress and Hypertension

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a very common problem in the United States. So common that one third of all people over the age of 20 years old have it (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/). So what is blood pressure? Blood pressure refers to the force of blood pushing against artery walls as it flows through out the body. Just like putting air into a ball, too much can damage it, the same goes for too much pressure in the veins and arteries. Hypertension can cause things such as heart disease and stroke. It is the leading cause of strokes and a major cause of heart attacks (http://www.webmd.com/). You may be wondering how is your blood pressure measured. Gathering 2 numbers known as systolic and diastolic pressure assess blood pressure. Systolic pressure is the top number or also the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats and fills them up. Diastolic pressure is the bottom number or the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting in between beats (http://www.webmd.com/). Normal is 120/80. Prehypertension is 120-139/80-89. Stage 1 is 140-159/90-99. Stage 2 is 160 and higher/ 100 and higher (http://emedicine.medscape.com/). There are also two types of high blood pressure, primary (essential) hypertension and secondary hypertension. The causes of primary hypertension are really nothing. There’s no identifiably cause of high blood pressure. This type tends to develop slowly over the years. Secondary hypertension are those people that have high blood pressure caused by a certain condition. Some causes include sleep apnea, kidney problems, adrenal gland tumors, thyroid problems, birth defects in blood vessels, certain medications, illegal drugs, and alcohol abuse (http://www.mayoclinic.org/). Most people with hypertension show no signs or symptoms. A few people complain of headaches shortness of breath or nose bleeds (http://www.mayoclinic.org/). Some risk factors of hypertension include age, race, family history, being overweight, not being physically active, using tobacco, too much salt in the diet, too little potassium and vitamin d in your diet, drinking too much alcohol, and stress. Now we are going to take a look at how stress affects hypertension.

Stress in one of the biggest causes of hypertension. It can cause hypertension through repeated blood pressure elevations as well as by stimulation of the nervous system to produce large amounts of vasoconstriction hormones that increase blood pressure (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). Stress can affect you anywhere as well, at school, at home, at work, at church; stress can literally travel with you everywhere. Some people continually let distress bother them and stress them out more and more creating higher blood pressure. Some people react to stress by eating more, smoking, drinking, or any other unhealthy habit. These unhealthy habits grouped with the stress create a combination that is dangerous when it relates to hypertension. If you react to stress in a non-stressful manner such as doing yoga or an activity like that your body doesn’t react to the stress as badly as it would if you let it get the best of you. Its proven that stress doesn’t actually cause hypertension but repetitive spikes in blood pressure as a result of stress can help lead to cause it (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). In conclusion if you want to avoid hypertension try not to surround yourself in stressful situations and also live a healthy and active lifestyle.

Works Cited

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150109.php
http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/understanding-high-blood-pressure-basics
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/241381-overview
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/basics/causes/con-20019580
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9894438