You feel overloaded, overwhelmed, and under pressure (physical and mental). Your pulse starts pounding... You can feel your heartbeat through your whole body...
These are telltale signs of stress in the body, and for many of us, these feelings are all too familiar.
It's no secret that you can count on stress to make your blood pump harder than normal. But when you’re faced with ongoing or constant stress, it can really take a severe toll on your heart and overall health.
Of course, you can’t get rid of the stressors, but you can keep your blood pressure and heart rate under control… and support and protect your best heart health in the process.
Bears, Bosses, and Evolutionary Stress
When you feel stressed, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode. That instinct kicks in whether you’re being chased by a bear or chewed out by your boss. Your body can’t tell the difference, and it acts to protect you no matter what.
Stress is designed to unleash a flood of hormones to help you escape and survive dangerous situations. Those hormones include adrenaline and cortisol.
Adrenaline gets your heart pumping faster and increases your blood pressure to make sure your arms and legs get maximum blood flow in an emergency. Cortisol raises your blood sugar levels to give you more energy and keeps your heart rate elevated to deliver that extra sugar.
Both of those hormones get your heart racing until your body sends out the message that the threat has passed and it’s ok to shut down and slow down (so you can get back to normal).
What’s Normal Heart Rate and Blood Pressure?
Stress sets off a spike in both your heart rate and your blood pressure to get you out of perceived danger. In a perfect world, as soon as the danger is gone, your body then quickly and easily calms dow