It can be difficult to distinguish between anxiety and changes in blood pressure. Hypertension does not usually cause symptoms. This means it is important for a person to have their blood pressure checked regularly. A person with low blood pressure may experience symptoms similar to those of anxiety.
Anxiety and high blood pressure can sometimes go hand in hand. Anxiety may lead to high blood pressure, and high blood pressure may trigger feelings of anxiety. Doctors characterize anxiety as feelings of intense worry or fear. It causes many physical symptoms, including increased heart rate and shallow breathing.
This occurs in 15% to 30% of patients who have a rise in their blood pressure due to nerves or anxiety when they are in a clinical setting, such as a dentist's or doctor's office (hence the “white coat” name). In fact, this type of anxiety can raise blood pressure by 10 points.
Reactions to stress can affect blood pressure
The body releases a surge of hormones when under stress. These hormones cause the heart to beat faster and the blood vessels to narrow. These actions increase blood pressure for a time. There's no proof that stress by itself causes long-term high blood pressure.
Unfortunately, high blood pressure can happen without feeling any abnormal symptoms. Moderate or severe headaches, anxiety, shortness of breath, nosebleeds, palpitations, or feeling of pulsations in the neck are some signs of high blood pressure.
Acute meal ingestion, caffeine or nicotine use can all affect BP readings, leading to errors in measurement accuracy. If the patient has a full bladder, that can lead to an error in systolic BP of up to 33 mm Hg, and the white-coat effect can have an error of up to 26 mm Hg.
Most blood pressure reading errors are the result of improper sizing of the blood pressure cuff or placing the cuff over clothing. Improper placement of the cuff over clothing can cause your blood pressure measurement to increase by 10 to 50 points.
Some people consistently get different blood pressure readings outside the doctor's office — even when blood pressure is measured correctly and repeatedly. If your home blood pressure readings are accurate and consistently higher than those at your doctor's office, you might be at risk for a heart attack or stroke.
Don't check your blood pressure too often.
Some people find that they become worried or stressed about small changes in their readings if they take them too often. Worrying can also raise your blood pressure in the short term, making your reading higher than it should be.
Even if your blood pressure is high, you probably won't have symptoms. That's why it's often called the "silent killer." The first symptom of untreated high blood pressure may be a heart attack, stroke, or kidney damage.
Occasional High Blood Pressure Predicts Stroke
The highest blood pressure readings were also associated with higher stroke risk. Those with the highest readings over the seven visits were 15 times more likely to have a stroke during the follow-up period.
Anxiety, stress, drugs, alcohol, physical exercise, and a range of medical conditions such as sleep apnea and kidney disease can cause your blood pressure to fluctuate from high to low. It's normal to see some variance throughout the day but you should consult a doctor if you exhibit symptoms of labile hypertension.
The diagnosis of hypertension may be off the mark if doctors go by the results of just one blood pressure test, a study conducted across 15 states found, with 24 per cent of people getting wrongly diagnosed as hypertensive.
You could have white coat hypertension. This condition occurs when blood pressure readings at a health care provider's office are higher than they are in other settings, such as at home. It's called white coat hypertension because people who measure blood pressure sometimes wear white coats.
Blood pressure typically drops in the late afternoon and evening. Blood pressure is usually lower at night while sleeping. The blood pressure measurement at night is called nocturnal blood pressure.
The morning increase in blood pressure is usually seen between 6:00AM and noon (Figure 1). If the blood pressure rises too high, it can cause harmful effects.
It's ideal to measure your blood pressure twice a day for two weeks leading up to a doctor's appointment, or following a change in medication. At each sitting, measure your blood pressure three times, but discard the first reading as it tends to be inaccurate. Write down the average of the second and third reading.
Blood pressure changes naturally many times a day. Most changes are normal and predictable. When these spikes and valleys in your blood pressure occur, you may not experience unusual signs or symptoms. These fluctuations may be brief and fleeting.
It is considered “prehypertension” when it doesn't quite reach the level of high blood pressure, but it is higher than normal. Prehypertension can serve as an early warning for patients and doctors. It is a sign of possible changes that could lead to heart disease.
It's important to remember that high blood pressure is not usually a death sentence. As long as you're regularly working with your doctor on treatment and managing your blood pressure levels, you will likely live a long life. This includes making significant changes to your health and lifestyle for the better.
Everyone's blood pressure rises and falls many times during the course of a single day, sometimes even within minutes. Many factors contribute to these changes, including physical activity, emotion, body position, diet (especially salt and alcohol intake), and sleep deprivation.
It is recommended to wait at least 1 minute between blood pressure (BP) readings.
Don't eat or drink anything 30 minutes before you take your blood pressure. Empty your bladder before your reading. Sit in a comfortable chair with your back supported for at least 5 minutes before your reading. Put both feet flat on the ground and keep your legs uncrossed.