Can Work Lead to High Blood Pressure?

It’s no secret that stress can kill. But you may not be able to identify the sources of your stress until it’s too late. High stress can lead to an increase in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and even memory loss. If you have a high-stress job, odds are that you have to deal with a lot of stress every working day. It may grow so severe that you need to visit a local Los Angeles hypertension specialist right away.

Can Work Lead to High Blood Pressure?

Can work lead to high blood pressure directly? What happens when your job is contributing to too much stress? Here’s what you need to know about the connection between work and stress and how you can keep your blood pressure levels steady even when your job is tough.

Chronic Stress is the Culprit

Stress does not do a body good. While humans can handle a decent amount of stress, we cannot handle consistent stress that does not go away. If you are dealing with a heavy workload and a lot of pressure from your boss, you might start to get physical symptoms from too much stress.

These physical symptoms include an increase in the production of certain hormones, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine. When these hormone levels rise, it causes your heart to pump faster. Not to mention, stress makes your blood vessels contract and constrict, making it difficult to maintain the same blood pressure throughout your body.

How Your Heart and Blood are Affected

Chronic stress is stress that consistently contributes to the spike in hypertension as well as the overproduction of stress response hormones. According to heart.org, nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure, which contributes to over 80,000 deaths per year. Many patients with hypertension are those in stressful working environments who cannot find rest from their work.

As you continue to live with undiagnosed chronic stress, you are putting your body at higher and higher risk. It is important to visit a hypertension specialist if you feel that your workplace stress is contributing to symptoms of high blood pressure.

Avoiding Hypertension

The best way to avoid high blood pressure due to stress is to work on ways to reduce chronic stress in your life. Chronic stress may appear in symptoms such as:

• Irritability

• Trouble sleeping

• Depression and anxiety

• Muscle stiffness

• Digestive issues

• Excessive use of alcohol or drugs

• Headaches

• Random pain in the body

There are ways to work on reducing stress on your own while you manage the stress you receive at work. Physical activity, even gentle activity, can be good for bringing blood levels down. Meditation and relaxation exercises can work wonders on the body. Try investing in yoga or tai-chi to work on breathing, which can steady your heart rate and actually reduce your levels of stress.

Focus on Change and Get Treatment ASAP!

Stress can manifest itself in many ugly ways, and when it starts to affect your physical health you should see it as a sign to get help immediately. You may be tempted to self-isolate and not communicate about how you feel, but this can exacerbate symptoms when you don’t know what’s wrong.

Above all, remember to give yourself some kindness and grace. Stress can multiply quickly when you are just as hard on yourself as others are on you. You need time to take a mental break and relax to keep those stress levels at bay.

Visit the office of Dr. Gura, your top internist in LA, if you are worried that you are dealing with high stress and hypertension. By assessing the state of your blood levels and hormone production, a customized treatment plan can be made for your better health. Get in touch with us ASAP!