Build healthy coping strategies

It is important that you identify your coping strategies. One way to do this is by recording the stressful event, your reaction, and how you cope in a stress journal. With this information, you can work to change unhealthy coping strategies into healthy ones-those that help you focus on the positive and what you can change or control in your life.

Lifestyle

Some behaviors and lifestyle choices affect your stress level. They may not cause stress directly, but they can interfere with the ways your body seeks relief from stress. Try to:

- Balance personal, work, and family needs and obligations.
- Have a sense of purpose in life.
- Get enough sleep, since your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping.
- Eat a balanced diet for a nutritional defense against stress.
- Get moderate exercise throughout the week.
- Limit your consumption of alcohol.
- Don’t smoke.

Social support

Social support is a major factor in how we experience stress. Social support is the positive support you receive from family, friends, and the community. It is the knowledge that you are cared for, loved, esteemed, and valued. More and more research indicates a strong relationship between social support and better mental and physical health.

Changing thinking

When an event triggers negative thoughts, you may experience fear, insecurity, anxiety, depression, rage, guilt, and a sense of worthlessness or powerlessness. These emotions trigger the body’s stress, just as an actual threat does. Dealing with your negative thoughts and how you see things can help reduce stress.

- Thought-stopping helps you stop a negative thought to help eliminate stress.
- Disproving irrational thoughts helps you to avoid exaggerating the negative thought, anticipating the worst, and interpreting an event incorrectly.
- Problem solving helps you identify all aspects of a stressful event and find ways to deal with it.
- Changing your communication style helps you communicate in a way that makes your views known without making others feel put down, hostile, or intimidated. This reduces the stress that comes from poor communication. Use the assertiveness ladder to improve your communication style.

Even writers like me can get stressed even though we’re just using our hands to do the talking, but having to sit for 7 or 8 hours is already stressful enough and have our own way to relieve stress. Whether you’re the mail guy, the CEO, or probably the average working parent, stress is one unwanted visitor you would love to boot out of your homes, especially your life.

Exercise hypertension is an excessive rise in blood pressure during exercise. Patients who with exercise hypertension will have spiking in systolic pressure to 250mmHg or greater.

In clinical setting, a rise in systolic blood pressure to over 220mHg needs to be controlled by the appropriate drugs.

For diastolic pressure, normally in healthy individuals, the ‘dynamic’ exercise (walking, running) of moderate intensity is to remain constant or to fall slightly (due to the improved blood flow), but in some individuals a rise of 10mmHg or greater is found.

Download your blood pressure monitoring cart here so you can monitor your blood pressure regularly.

White coat hypertension is a phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in a clinical setting but not when recorded by themselves at home. It is believed that this is due to the anxiety some people experience during a clinic visit.

Recent studies (American Journal of Hypertension, May 2006) showed home blood pressure monitoring is as accurate as a 24 hour ambulatory monitoring in determining blood pressure levels. Hypertension patients should have a blood pressure monitoring set at home. Record the Blood Pressure at home regulary. Download your free Blood Pressure Monitoring Cart here to record your blood pressure daily.

A study done in Southern California found that statins can also affect hypertension. In this study, 1,000 individuals were examined for the statins. These subjects did not have any chronic conditions, but had high LDL cholesterol (ranging between 113 to 190mg/dl). They either took Zocor 20mg, Pravachol 40mg, or a placebo, and were followed for eight months.

The researchers found that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings were modestly lowered in these individuals taking either statin. Both statins were able to slightly lower systolic blood pressures by 2.2mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 2.4 mmHg. It also appeared that Zocor lowered blood pressure slightly more than Pravachol. Once the statins were stopped blood pressure readings returned to what they were before the study.

However, bear in mind that the researchers still do not know how statins work in individuals with higher blood pressures. Statins are known for lowering cholesterol, reducing plaque formation, lessening inflammation and stabilizing plaques that have already accumulated in vessel. Therefore, right now, only use your statins for your cholesterol and do  not forget to use your antihypertensive to lower your blood pressure.

An increase in blood (plasma) volume and a fall in blood pressure are usually observed in normal pregnancy. So when any pregnant woman’s blood pressure is above the normal range, it is abnormal.

Hypertension in pregnancy is defined as a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or more. It complicates 5 to 7 percent of pregnancies and is a major cause of inadequate fetal growth, lack of oxygen supply to fetus, neonatal complications and death, and maternal complications and death. Therefore, pregnancy complicated by hypertension does pose a risk to both the fetus and the mother.

A family history of hypertension, extremes of reproductive age, first pregnancy, multiple gestation, hydatidiform mole (a form of pregnancy tumor), diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension prior to pregnancy are some of the factors that may contribute to the development of hypertension during pregnancy.

Hypertension can occur in 1 of the 3 forms. It can be present before conception occurs and is commonly known as pre-existing hypertension. It may occur after 20 weeks’ gestation and experts name this as gestational hypertension with or without preeclampsia/eclampsia. Or, it can exist as a combination of the two. Preeclampsia/eclampsia is a form of pregnancy disorder that affects blood pressure as well as the brain, kidney, liver and blood.

The control of severe hypertension in pregnancy (that is blood pressure higher than 170/110 mmHg) is essential and should be done immediately. This will prevent maternal death from bleeding in the brain (cerebral hemorrhage) and eclampsia. The need to control mild hypertension in pregnant mothers is less evident, but treatment of mild hypertension has been shown to reduce the subsequent development of severe high blood pressure. Nevertheless, its value in preventing fetal loss or development of eclampsia remains unproven.

Pregnant women with hypertension are usually asked to rest in bed and take antihypertensive medications. Restriction of dietary sodium is generally not advised. In view of the potential risks of medication to the unborn child, many ‘old’ but ‘safe’ drugs (such as methyldopa, hydralazine, labetalol, nifedipine) are often used. Some newer antihypertensive medications such as ACE inhibitors and ARBs are not recommended because of the possible ill effects to the fetus.

Occasionally, medical delivery is required to control hypertension or its possible complications. A multi-disciplinary approach combining the expertise of an obstetrician, a physician, a neonatologist and a nurse is usually required for the optimal care of a hypertensive mother with complications.

• Chronic kidney failure

• Adrenal gland diseases or tumors

• Narrowing of the aorta

• Pregnancy

• Use of contraceptives (pills)

• Addiction to alcohol

• Thyroid problems

On the other hand, 90% of hypertension cases do not have a known cause and this is referred to as primary hypertension. Unlike secondary hypertension, primary hypertension does not have a specific cause. However, there are several factors that may lead to high blood pressure. These are the following:

• Obesity – This is a condition wherein a person’s weight is over 30% of what it should normally be. Obese people are advised to lose weight by exercising and maintaining a balanced diet. It is recommended that an obese person should lose weight until he or she is within 15% of the normal body weight.

• Inactivity – This is normally the cause of obesity that leads to hypertension.

• Heredity – The tendency of having high blood pressure also runs in the genes. If you have a relative or a family member that has hypertension, you are a potential candidate to have it as well.

• Age – Older people are more prone to hypertension because their arteries get harder over time. This is called arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

• Salt intake – Too much intake of salt can cause hypertension especially in people who have high sensitivity to sodium. An average person consumes at least 10 to 15 times more salt when eating fast foods or processed foods.

• Alcohol intake – People who are sensitive to alcohol are more likely to have hypertension if they take more than 1 drink a day. This is because alcohol tends to increase the blood pressure.

• Use of contraceptives like pills – Birth control pills contains properties that increase blood pressure.

• Drugs – Stimulants like amphetamines, dietary pills and anti-allergy pills can also cause hypertension.

Consider all the above factors and check blood pressure regularly to maintain a healthy body!

Hypertension is the state of having high blood pressure. The possible candidate of having hypertension mioght have blood pressure that is higher than 140/90 mmHg.

There are many causes of hypertension. Hypertension can originate from a lot of things.

Idiopathic hypertension can be caused by genetic.

Improper diet with increased intake of fatty and high-cholesterol food, high-salt content food can cause hypertension.

The high emotional pressure during working or studying can also heighten the risk of hypertension.

The problems with kidney’s blood vessels will have the higher chance of acquiring hypertension. Renal parenchymal and renal vascular diseases are the two most common kidney ailments that can cause hypertension.

Patients with heart problems, chances are, the blood pressure becomes erratic. The blood pressure can either be low or high, depending upon the reaction of the heart and body.

If hypertension persists, there are different problems that could arise out of it.

People with hypertension can contrast a stroke at anytime. The chances of stroke are very high.

Hypertension can also cause faulty vision. When the fine blood vessels of the eyes break because of high blood pressure you could have blurry vision, which can even lead to blindness.

Hypertension can also damage the kidneys as the kidney’s blood vessels can thicken with high blood pressure.

So remember to check blood pressure regularly for a fuller, healthier life!
 

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From,

Sit Wai