Are you one of the millions of people worldwide trying to manage stress and / or stress related high blood pressure? If so, you may find this study interesting!
A recent study indicates that high blood pressure due to stress may actually be caused by your immune system reacting to the stress as if the stress were a virus. It is well known that stress can raise the heart rate and blood pressure, which may further leave a person predisposed to stroke and heart disease. But exactly how stress increases the blood pressure has not been well understood.
In a new study from Emery University, scientists showed that hypertension from stress does NOT occur in mice who have no T cells. T cells are a major part of the disease-fighting immune system. Mice who lack these special disease fighting cells were placed in stressful situations alongside mice who had T cells. The mice without T cells showed no increase in blood pressure while the normal mice did.
The scientists went one step further and introduced T cells to the previously T cell free mice. When the mice, with their newly completed immune system, were stressed again, their BP showed the same increase as the normal mice. So when the mice with no T cells were stressed, they did not have an elevated BP. When those same mice were given T cells and stressed again, they DID develop an increase in blood pressure. These results demonstrate the profound effects the immune system and stress can have on blood pressure.
Recent studies on stress-induced blood pressure rise has hinted to an inflammatory reaction by the immune system as the reason behind the phenomenon, but this is one of the first studies to actually show a direct link between the two. It is suspected that the body's T cells interpret the psychological stress as an assault by a pathogen. The T cells then mount an inflammatory attack which elevates blood pressure.
Based off of this study, and others, scientists are developing new approaches to hypertension management. One emerging treatment taken from this research uses stress management to improve blood pressure as well as other indicators of overall health.
The thought behind this new approach is that by reducing stress and burnout, we can suppress the inflammatory response our immune system has to stress. The benefits of stress management and avoiding the ever-dangerous 'burnout' (which significantly elevates BP), go far beyond lowering blood pressure too: stress management also helps reduce the buildup of plaque in arteries and improves the health of the heart and brain.
If you are an individual who has hypertension and feel stress may be causing it, then the Burnout Breakthrough! program may be just what you need! The comprehensive Burnout Breakthrough! program will not try to change your daily routine or ask you to quit your job. It will instead focus on teaching you how to let go of unhealthy behaviors, and how to change your emotional response to stressors; situations which cause you stress.
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