more americans are experiencing hypertension meaning high blood pressure as a result of the
pandemic this is based on a pretty impressive study that was just published in the journal
called circulation now why would a pandemic cause people's blood pressure to run higher
well by the end of this video you'll have a good understanding why but if i had to pick one word
as the reason it would be stress or anxiety but this isn't just an assumption or a theory take a
look at some of the most searched health topics of 2021 like why do i feel anxious for no reason it's
also no wonder why the u.s surgeon general just warned about the devastating mental health effects
that young people are facing which have been amplified by the pandemic the 53-page report
shows the significant increases in self-reports of depression anxiety and mental health-related
er visits one significant stat is that er visits for suicide attempts rose 51% for adolescent girls
in early 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019 while the figure rose 4%
for boys so yeah stress anxiety depression for a number of reasons so far covid has taken over 785000
american lives stress from lockdowns that cut social events and strained relationships
politics unemployment and what happens when people are stressed for a long time more and more of the
hormone cortisol is released from the adrenal glands in the body it circulates into the blood
and affects the entire body too much cortisol in the body over a long period of time does lots of
bad things one of those things is it raises blood sugar another thing is that it weakens the immune
system and yes it does also raise the blood pressure yes the pandemic it raised people's
stress levels but what did it also do people weren't exercising as much people were eating less
healthy they were drinking more alcohol getting less quality sleep and they weren't getting as
much regular health care including less doctor visits and less adherence to medication regimen
in fact it was these exact observations that led the lead author of the study to do the study in
the first place based on the study almost half a million americans have higher blood pressure
compared to the year before to be more specific the researchers at cleveland clinic found that
the blood pressure reading for the most part stayed the same from 2019 through march of 2020
but had a big jump from april 2020 to the end of the study in december of 2020. when looking
at blood pressure it's really two measurements rolled into one the top number is the systolic
pressure related to the heart squeezing the bottom number is the diastolic pressure related to the
heart relaxing anyone with a blood pressure of 130 over 80 millimeters mercury or higher is
considered to have high blood pressure the average monthly change from april 2020 to december 2020
compared to one year prior to that was a 1.1 to 2.5 millimeter mercury increase in systolic
pressure for diastolic pressure it was an average increase of 0.14 to 0.53 millimeters mercury
these numbers might not seem like they're a big deal but when you have this jump in half
a million people it's actually considered to be a significant jump the increases
occurred in all of the subgroups it occurred in all ages and both men and women although it was
a bigger increase in women over time having high blood pressure even if it's just a little high
can damage blood vessels your heart brain kidneys and eyes as well as sexual function
almost half of american adults have high blood pressure which is also known as the silent killer
because it can have life-threatening consequences despite there being little to no symptoms with
more and more people having higher blood pressure that means more and more people will have strokes
heart attacks heart failure kidney impairment visual impairment and erectile dysfunction so with
more and more people having these conditions it's going to lead to more hospital emissions and guess
what disease is already causing some hospitals to be filled to the brink covid fortunately high
blood pressure is relatively easy to diagnose and treat in many cases blood pressure can be
adequately lowered without medication simply by eating healthier exercising more and practicing
stress reduction techniques this would include things like yoga meditation and mindfulness one
of the main dietary changes you can make in order to lower blood pressure would entail eating more
potassium and less salt take a look at this study that was published in the new england journal
medicine which had about 400 people in it half of them followed the typical american diet which was
the control group and the other half following the dash diet for three months the conclusion
those who ate a low sodium dash diet can prevent or even reverse the typical rise in blood pressure
that occurs as people get older thousands of years ago during the paleolithic period
our ancestors survived by eating an entirely different kind of diet pretty much the opposite of
what we eat today they feasted on wild animals and a variety of plants fruits vegetables nuts seeds
roots and even lives but this paleolithic diet was high in potassium and low in sodium today's
typical american diet is packed with processed foods full of white flour fat salt sugar as
well as meat and dairy products with only a small percentage of fruits and vegetables more than 40%
of the sodium that americans consume today comes from just 10 types of food the 10 biggest
culprits are breads and rolls pizza sandwiches cold cuts and cured meats soups burritos and
tacos so-called savory snacks like chips and pretzels chicken cheese and eggs and omelets
so eating less of this type of food and more of the healthy foods exercising 150 minutes per week
doing stress reduction techniques so mindfulness meditation yoga and also getting good sleep high
quality sleep these are the main ways of ridding yourself of the silent killer without medication