What Is Stress?

What is stress?

Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure.

Pressure turns into stress when you feel unable to cope. People have different ways of reacting to stress, so a situation that feels stressful to one person may be motivating to someone else.

Many of life's demands can cause stress, particularly work, relationships and money problems. And, when you feel stressed, it can get in the way of sorting out these demands, or can even affect everything you do.

Stress can affect how you feel, think, behave and how your body works. In fact, common signs of stress include sleeping problems, sweating, loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating.

You may feel anxious, irritable or low in self esteem, and you may have racing thoughts, worry constantly or go over things in your head. You may notice that you lose your temper more easily, drink more or act unreasonably.

You may also experience headaches, muscle tension or pain, or dizziness.

Stress causes a surge of hormones in your body. These stress hormones are released to enable you to deal with pressures or threats – the so-called "fight or flight" response. 

Once the pressure or threat has passed, your stress hormone levels will usually return to normal. However, if you're constantly under stress, these hormones will remain in your body, leading to the symptoms of stress.

Source:nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/understanding-stress.aspx

Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, or hypertension, rarely has noticeable symptoms. But if untreated, it increases your risk of serious problems such as heart attacks and strokes.

More than one in four adults in the UK have high blood pressure, although many won't realise it.

The only way to find out if your blood pressure is high is to have your blood pressure checked. 

What is high blood pressure?

Blood pressure is recorded with two numbers. The systolic pressure (higher number) is the force at which your heart pumps blood around your body.

The diastolic pressure (lower number) is the resistance to the blood flow in the blood vessels. They're both measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).

As a general guide:

• high blood pressure is considered to be 140/90mmHg or higher
• ideal blood pressure is considered to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg
• low blood pressure is considered to be 90/60mmHg or lower

A blood pressure reading between 120/80mmHg and 140/90mmHg could mean you're at risk of developing high blood pressure if you don't take steps to keep your blood pressure under control.

Risks of high blood pressure

If your blood pressure is too high, it puts extra strain on your blood vessels, heart and other organs, such as the brain, kidneys and eyes.

Persistent high blood pressure can increase your risk of a number of serious and potentially life-threatening conditions, such as:

• heart disease
• heart attacks
• strokes
• heart failure
• peripheral arterial disease
• aortic aneurysms
• kidney disease
• vascular dementia

If you have high blood pressure, reducing it even a small amount can help lower your risk of these conditions.

Check your blood pressure

The only way of knowing whether you have high blood pressure is to have a blood pressure test.

All adults over 40 are advised to have their blood pressure checked at least every five years. Getting this done is easy and could save your life.

You can get your blood pressure tested at a number of places, including:

• at your GP surgery
• at some pharmacies
• as part of your NHS Health Check
• in some workplaces

You can get your blood pressure checked at your GP practice

You can also check your blood pressure yourself with a home blood pressure monitor.

Causes of high blood pressure

It's not always clear what causes high blood pressure, but certain things can increase your risk.

You're at an increased risk of high blood pressure if you:

• are over the age of 65
• are overweight or obese
• are of African or Caribbean descent
• have a relative with high blood pressure
• eat too much salt and don't eat enough fruit and vegetables
• don't do enough exercise
• drink too much alcohol or coffee (or other caffeine-based drinks)
• smoke
• don't get much sleep or have disturbed sleep

Making healthy lifestyle changes can help reduce your chances of getting high blood pressure and help lower your blood pressure if it's already high.

Reduce your blood pressure

The following lifestyle changes can help prevent and lower high blood pressure:

• reduce the amount of salt you eat and have a generally healthy diet
• cut back on alcohol if you drink too much
• lose weight if you're overweight
• exercise regularly
• cut down on caffeine
• stop smoking
• try to get at least six hours of sleep a night

Some people with high blood pressure may also need to take one or more medicines to stop their blood pressure getting too high.

Medicines for high blood pressure

If you're diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor may recommend taking one or more medicines to keep it under control.

These usually need to be taken once a day.

Common blood pressure medications include:

• ACE inhibitors – such as enalapril, lisinopril, perindopril and ramipril
• angiotensin-2 receptor blockers (ARBs) – such as candesartan, irbesartan, losartan, valsartan and olmesartan
• calcium channel blockers – such as amlodipine, felodipine and nifedipine or diltiazem and verapamil.
• diuretics – such as indapamide and bendroflumethiazide
• beta-blockers – such as atenolol and bisoprolol
• alpha-blockers – such as doxazosin
• renin inhibitors – such as aliskiren
• other diuretics – such as amiloride and spironolactone

The medication recommended for you will depend on things like how high your blood pressure is and your age.

Sourcde:nhs.uk/Conditions/Blood-pressure-(high)/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Get A Health Check

One of the things that can help detemine any health issues is a health check. Here in the UK it is available as part of the course for 40 -74 year olds. So once you hit that 40 plus they will offer you a range of health tests that check for things like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, strokes etc.

Now these are not a sure fire way for preventing anything, but will act as a bit of a radar for any potential problems.

My husband and I had these very tests done a year or so ago. They did pick up that he had slightly rasied Cholesterol that needed keeping an eye on. Fast forward to now and along side his bad family genes, this was a contributing factor.

You should be able to find details of any screening and testing available at your local Doctor's surgery or clinic (this may vary in other countries).

13 Heart Facts......