How stress affects blood pressure, and what to do about it

Stress isn’t good for our health. Virtually everyone has heard this at some point, whether it’s from a spouse, doctor or well-meaning friend. But isn’t pretty much everyone stressed out? Isn’t being stressed “normal”?

Statistics show how common it is to experience high levels of stress on a regular basis, unfortunately. Americans are some of the most stressed people in the world; stress experienced by Americans is 20 percent higher than the global average.

Stress may be common, but it shouldn’t be seen as normal and it can absolutely have detrimental effects on physical health — including the heart, in particular.

How stress affects heart health

When talking about stress and heart health, it’s important to keep in mind that there are different types of stress — specifically emotional stress and physical stress (like sprinting up a flight of stairs). Cardiologist and Enabled Healthcare founder Dr. Bethany Doran says that both types of stress raise blood pressure.

“You can think about a ‘fight or flight’ reflex. This reflex ensures that people have enough blood pumping through their bodies to keep them safe from any potential dangers,” she says.

Cardiologist Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, explains that when the body is under stress (again, either physical or mental), it causes a surge of hormones to be released in the body. This causes the heart to beat faster and blood vessels to narrow, which is what raises blood pressure.

In moderate amounts, this is OK — healthy, even. After all, exercise is good for us. But both doctors say that it’s when we experience continual stress for a long period of time that the trouble starts.

Doran explains that experiencing continual stress means that the heart is having to work harder for an extended period of time.

“The heart has to push against the higher pressure in the arteries and, over time, this can cause the heart muscle to increase in size,” she says. “At first this is adaptive, but over time, it can cause problems if there are continually high pressures because heart muscles can grow too big.”

It also causes hypertension — aka consistently high blood pressure.

What can you do about it?

Von Schwarz emphasizes that having hypertension needs to be taken seriously.

“Hypertension is considered the silent killer,” he says. “The main problem is that high blood pressure does not cause pain or any symptoms, so many people do not take it seriously enough and do not take necessary medication to lower their pressure because they think they don’t need it (or) they believe that taking some vitamins and supplements will do the job — which is wrong in the vast majority of people.”

When high blood pressure isn’t taken seriously, von Schwarz says it can lead to a heart attack, stroke or early death. When people say that stress can kill you, they are 100 percent right.

Here’s the good news: Both cardiologists say that as soon as someone starts prioritizing stress-reducing activities (such as exercising regularly, meditation, therapy and self care), their health will benefit.

“Stress-reducing habits decrease blood pressure and can retrain the heart and the nervous system to respond less in a ‘fight or flight’ manner,” Doran says.

However, it’s important to note that many people with hypertension need to be on medication to lower their blood pressure and should see a doctor for a prescription.

By the way, the connection between stress and heart health is not something only older adults need to be aware of. Both doctors say that it’s something people even in their 20s should be mindful of.

“The earlier people have high blood pressure, the worse the outcomes,” von Schwarz says.

Doran agrees, saying that it’s important for everyone to have heart-healthy habits in place, including eating nutrient-dense foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep and, yes, managing stress.

Being stressed out all the time isn’t good for our mental or physical health. Even if it seems like living in a state of fight or flight is normal, it’s not a healthy way to live. Remember, prioritizing your mental health is prioritizing your physical health, so take these words to heart.