Stress and sleeplessness triple risk for a hypertensive disaster

We’ve all heard high blood pressure called the “silent killer.” And, unfortunately, I’ve seen how deadly it can be in my own family.

But, sometimes, it’s not just hypertension you have to worry about…

Research reported in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology has found that there are two factors that when combined with high blood pressure triple your risk of cardiovascular death.

It’s important to realize how these outside factors affect your risk so you can make changes to bring it down…

Common problems with real risks

One-third of people who work live with high blood pressure and previous research has shown that factors like stress on the job can cause their health issues to worsen. However, no study had ever demonstrated a link between the ravages job stress can wreak on your sleep and how the two combined with hypertension could lead to an early grave.

The study included almost 2,000 hypertensive workers (but who had never been diagnosed with heart disease), following them for nearly 18 years and rating their level of work stress and the quality of their sleep versus their risk of death.

And, they found that compared to those with no work stress and good sleep, people with both risk factors had a three times greater likelihood of death from heart disease!

Individually, the factors still showed a dangerous trend…

People with work stress alone had a 1.6-fold higher risk while those with only poor sleep had a 1.8-times higher risk.

“These are insidious problems,” noted study author Professor Karl-Heinz Ladwig, of the German Research Centre for Environmental Health and the Medical Faculty, Technical University of Munich. “The risk is not having one tough day and no sleep. It is suffering from a stressful job and poor sleep over many years, which fade energy resources and may lead to an early grave.”

And, he elaborated. “Each condition is a risk factor on its own and there is cross-talk among them, meaning each one increases the risk of the other. If you have stress at work, sleep helps you recover. Unfortunately, poor sleep and job stress often go hand in hand, and when combined with hypertension the effect is even more toxic.”

How to lessen the toxic effects

So, if you want to avoid the toxic effect the doctor spoke about, strategies to include in your day-to-day include:

• Getting regular physical activity.
• Eating a heart-healthy diet full of fruits, veggies, and fatty fish.
• Using relaxation strategies, such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga and massage.
• Practicing progressive muscle relaxation at bedtime and reducing intrusive thoughts that could interfere with your sleep.
• Taking supplements that support normal blood pressure, such as vitamin K2 to keep your arteries clear, elastic and pliable, grape seed extract to activate the nitric oxide in the lining of your blood vessels, and pterostilbene to block the enzyme that can stiffen blood vessel walls. Remember, supplements aren’t meant to take the place of medications.

High blood pressure is surely a silent killer but it does have help doing its dirty work from the stress of your daily life and poor sleep. Don’t let these effects compound to steal your life. Instead, use the tips above to manage your blood pressure and your stress and get better sleep.

Sources:

1. Stressed at work and trouble sleeping? It’s more serious than you think — EurekAlert!