Between Stress, Anxiety and High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)

In my community, whenever someone suffers stroke or is said to have high blood pressure (commonly addressed as ‘high BP’), people would ask, “what is s/he thinking about?” I grew up with the notion that high blood pressure (hypertension) is caused by deep thoughts arising most probably from financial difficulty. But later, some affluent men I knew were also said to have high BP. Theirs were said to be caused by “stress” – that rich people were always ‘stressed up’ thinking about their money.

A few weeks ago, I was watching Cable News Network and I was amazed with the news of Frankie Muniz, a 26 year old American who was diagnosed recently of mini-stroke. I was wondering what could be responsible for stroke in an apparently healthy young man, but in medicine, you can never say ‘never’. The CNN Chief Health Correspondent, Dr Sanjay Gupta went ahead to interview the actor/musician and he said he started feeling funny, gradual loss of balance and dizziness on his way back from a workout station. The diagnosis was made after clinical evaluation and radiological investigations.

More so, veteran actor, Enebeli Enebuwa was reported to have died last week. He was being treated for stroke (a complication of hypertension) he suffered over a year ago. Was he thinking too much? Was he anxious or under severe stress? What is the relationship between stress, anxiety and high blood pressure? What really causes hypertension? Find out in the following paragraphs.

Blood pressure is expressed as a fraction – the numerator represents the systolic while the denominator represents the diastolic. For most normal people, the systolic ranges from 110 to 120mmHg while the diastolic from 70-80mmHg. It is usually a bit lower in people who exercise a lot which is good. Hypertension occurs when the blood pressure is sustained for a long term at or above 140/90mmHg and can only be diagnosed by a trained medical personnel. Stressful situations can cause your blood pressure to spike temporarily and return back to normal. Doing exercise up to 30-60minutes a day can reduce your blood pressure and stress level too. There is no proof that stress itself causes long term high blood pressure.

What about anxiety? It doesn’t also cause chronic hypertension. But episodes of anxiety may lead to a dramatic temporary blood pressure rise. If those episodes occur too frequently, such as everyday for a long period of time, it may damage some vital organs of the body. Anxiety may also lead one to engaging in abnormal behaviors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, etc which are risk factors for hypertension.

Hypertension is mainly of two types: primary (essential) and secondary. The primary type is commoner and the cause is yet-to-be known. There are factors that increases a person’s chance of developing hypertension, they include – overweight, obesity, smoking, men above 50yrs, postmenopausal women, etc. Some of these factors are not modifiable, for instance, you don’t need to change your sex to avoid the risk of getting hypertensive. How do you know whether you have hypertension or not? You can only know by checking your blood pressure. If it is very high, you may be required to rest for about 4hours and it is repeated. Hypertension does not usually show any symptom or sign until it gets complicated. It damages the blood vessels, heart, kidney, etc gradually and the damages caused may not be reversible if the hypertension is not identified and controlled in good time. Some of the complications include but not limited to the following: stroke, heart attack, chronic kidney disease and dementia. Secondary hypertension is caused by some health conditions and disappears when the causal disease if treated/cured.
Treatment for primary hypertension is for life. Strict adherence to medication as prescribed by the doctor is strongly recommended. I’m not aware of any scientific proof that herbal medication is effective; rather, it may damage the kidney and cause a sharp rise in blood pressure and may result in stroke or sudden death. It can be very debilitating. 
In conclusion, stress and anxiety don’t cause long-term hypertension. Early diagnosis and treatment of hypertension will prevent complications which can lead to sudden death. Do regular exercise, avoid tobacco smoking, eat healthy foods and check your blood pressure at least once in a year if you are less than 50years. Have a good week.

 If you have questions, kindly mail them to leze@happynigeria.org. Follow me on twitter - @donlaz4u