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When you have high blood pressure, your doctor may tell you one of two things:<\/p>\nWhen you have high blood pressure, your doctor may tell you one of two things:<\/p>\n
1)\tIt\u2019s not your fault \u2013 you just need to take medications.
\n2)\tIt\u2019s your fault, you need to change your diet and lifestyle.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like to casually fling blame, but a new study indicates that your blood pressure may indeed be someone else\u2019s doing. And the solution is to change or eliminate your connection with that person.<\/p>\n
Worst of all, the spike in blood pressure lasts a long time after each encounter.<\/p>\n
Researcher Els Clays, MSc, of Ghent University in Belgium attached blood pressure monitors to the arms of 89 middle-aged men and women who were found to have particularly stressful jobs. The study included another group, 89 men and women not experiencing job stress. <\/p>\n
After taking various lifestyle factors into account, including sex, age, weight, and physical job demands, the results were clear.<\/p>\n
High-job-stress men and women had 5.9 systolic points and 3.0 diastolic points higher blood pressure than the non-stressed workers did.<\/p>\n
This was especially true if the employer was extremely demanding or people had intense conflicts with their boss.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s even more serious is that this extended beyond the workplace into the home, including while they were sleeping.<\/p>\n
While you can\u2019t control everything in your work environment, that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re powerless.<\/p>\n
Finding ways to manage workplace stress isn\u2019t necessarily about making huge changes or rethinking career ambitions, but rather about focusing on the one thing that\u2019s always within your control: you and your ability to choose.<\/p>\n
Make Wise Food Choices<\/strong> <\/p>\n Low blood sugar can make you feel anxious and irritable, while eating too much can make you feel tired and sluggish.<\/p>\n There is also a link between oxidative stress (physical stress) and emotional stress, so a diet rich in immune boosting anti-oxidants such as bioflavonoids from citrus foods and polyphenols found in green tea, chocolate, and coffee can help ward off oxidative stress. <\/p>\n Choose to move<\/strong><\/p>\n Exercise is one of the most effective ways to relieve stress even though it may be the last thing you feel like doing. Anything that raises your heart rate and makes you sweat will help lift your mood, raise energy levels, and help to relax both mind and body purging your system of toxic stress hormones.<\/p>\n