Anxiety is pArt of life. you feel it when
you’re stuck in traffic, harried at work or worrying
about your family and finances. There’s no doubt
that feeling anxious can elevate your blood pressure,
at least in the short term.
“Our mind and our thoughts certainly are con-
nected to our hearts,” says Christopher Celano, as-
sociate director of the Cardiac Psychiatry Research
Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. When
something makes you anxious—whether it’s a life-
threatening emergency or a persistent worry—your
sympathetic nervous system initiates a fight-or-
flight response that raises your heart rate and blood
pressure, Celano explains.
This is fine—and sometimes even beneficial—in
moderation. “A little anxiety can be motivating,” he
says. It can help you start a new exercise routine or
make healthier food choices. But action in the ner-
vous system needs to be balanced out by activity in
the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows
down heart rate and increases digestion. (Unlike the
“fight or flight” response, this one is nicknamed for
its ability to help the body “rest and digest.”) “The
parasympathetic nervous system helps you relax,
and a balance between the parasympathetic and
sympathetic nervous systems is essential for heart
health,” Celano says.
Some people with anxiety don’t have that bal-
ance, and over time this could imperil the heart. As
Celano says: “When people are chronically anxious,
they may experience changes to their immune sys-
tem, blood vessels and platelets that may contribute
to heart disease.”
Research bears this out. A 2015 research review
published in the journal Neuropsychiatric Disease
and Treatment found that people who experience
high levels of anxiety are more likely to develop
hypertension than those who aren’t as anxious.
One of the studies found that if a person’s anxiety
levels are elevated for long periods, the resulting
nervous-system activity could raise blood pressureCAN ANXIETY
CAUSE HIGH
BLOOD
PRESSURE?
Experts are still figuring out the
relationship between chronic
worrying and hypertension