When a doctor takes your blood pressure, he reads you a pair of numbers, such as 120 over 80. The first number, according to the American Heart Association, is systolic blood pressure. This represents the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. The second number is diastolic blood pressure, or the pressure felt by the arteries when the heart is resting. Normal systolic readings are 120 and less. A number between 120 and 179 indicates hypertension. The conditions responsible for elevated systolic pressure can range from diet to stress to the body showing signs of distress.
Age
The primary reason for an elevated systolic blood pressure is the number that none of us can control: age. According to the American Heart Association, your systolic blood pressure increases over the course of your life as arteries stiffen and plaques build up along the walls. The amount of work the heart must perform to pump blood is related to the artery's stiffness or clogging. Though some stiffness and buildup is natural over the course of your life, highly elevated systolic levels can be a predictor of cardiac events in the future.
Low Insulin Levels Leading to Injections
Doctors at New York Medical College conducted a study to examine the link between high blood pressure and low insulin levels in the blood. Mice with Type 2 diabetes were given daily insulin injections. The researchers, who published their work in a 2010 issue of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, found that insulin constricts arteries, requiring the heart to work harder to pump blood. The study concluded that insulin supplementation is a factor of high systolic blood pressure.
Overactive Thyroid
Mayo Clinic hypertension specialist Dr. Sheldon Sheps writes that people whose systolic is over 140 and diastolic is less than 90 have a condition known as isolated systolic hypertension. This lesser-known form of high blood pressure is generally linked to hyperthyroidism, or overactive thyroid. Doctors at the Kwandong University College of Medicine published an article in the April 2009 edition of the Korean Circulation Journal showing that ISH is reversible. Physicians treating hyperthyroidism can reverse the related hypertension.
Stress
Anxiety, stress and other mental weight can affect systolic blood pressure. A study published in the March 2008 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital, showed that behavioral modification and lifestyle changes could reduce systolic blood pressure. The study took patients 55 and older with a systolic blood pressure of 140 to 159 and taking two hypertension medicines and put them through eight weeks of behavioral therapy. Those who made gains received an additional eight weeks. The study concluded that people receiving stress management assistance were able to reduce their systolic and eliminate the use of blood pressure medication.
References
- American Heart Association: Understanding Blood Pressure Readings
- MayoClinic.com: Isolated systolic hypertension: A health concern?
- PubMed/Korean Circulation Journal: Isolated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (2009)
- "The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology": Insulin supplementation elevates systolic blood pressure...in mice with Type 2 diabetes (2010)
- "The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine": Stress Management Versus Lifestyle Modification on Systolic Hypertension and Medication Elimination: A Randomized Trial (2008)
