High Blood Pressure: How To Deal With External And Internal Stress

Stress undoubtedly influences our body, and it’s proportional to the situation and potential outcome. Indeed, the changes that occur in our blood have probably been the same for tens of thousands of years. In short, it’s the old “fight or flight” situation—a term first coined by Dr. Hans Selye, an expert on stress.

What we do about it is important, though. If race car drivers can condition for stress, why can’t we all? We can!

Air traffic controllers have endemic high blood pressure, most likely because they are sedentary, smoke, and take out their frustrations with poor eating and drinking habits. In short, stress is only the initiator. In the final analysis, it’s diet and lifestyle that affect their blood pressure.

Race car drivers deal with stress effectively. They are excellent examples of how mental stress can be used to advantage by the body, but more important, how the body prepares for physical stress. If the drivers would practice the diet and lifestyle programs in this book, they’d do great.

In contrast to all this, the doctors’ study teaches us that stress is relative. If the doctors had practiced positive thinking, they would have been as relaxed in front of their peers as in front of the nurses.
There is another much more insidious and deadly kind of stress: It’s “internally generated stress,” which we create ourselves.

Internally generated stress starts at an early age. Some of it is hereditary, some is learned from our parents, but at some point this stress can consume one’s personality. It can create a tense, unrelaxing person with “tense” or “uptight” characteristics.

Dealing with Stress

Whether stress is internal or external, there are things we can do to gain control. Remember three critical things.

1. Don’t try to relieve the frustration caused by stress by creating more stress. Don’t drink, snack, smoke, or use chemicals. Tranquilizers will never prevent high blood pressure!
2. Maintain fitness. A conditioned, no overweight body copes well with stress.
3. Mental conditioning for external stress is equally important. Prepare for the ‘worst” eventually and decide how you would handle it. Once you’re ready, then it will be easy for you to handle the situation.