When we hear about blood pressure, we usually think of heart health or risk of stroke. But new research shows that blood pressure, especially the lower number in a blood pressure reading, might also affect how we feel emotionally and how we deal with stress.
Blood pressure has two numbers. The top number is called systolic pressure. It shows how hard your blood pushes when your heart beats.
The bottom number is called diastolic pressure. It shows the pressure when your heart rests between beats. While both numbers matter, scientists are now paying more attention to the diastolic number and how it might be linked to emotions and personality.
One emotional trait they studied is called neuroticism. This is a personality trait where someone often feels worried, sad, or gets upset easily. People who score high on neuroticism may find it harder to handle stress and may feel negative emotions more often.
To find out if blood pressure affects this emotional trait, scientists used a method called Mendelian randomization.
This technique uses genetic data to understand cause-and-effect relationships between health conditions and traits. Since our genes partly control things like blood pressure, the researchers looked at DNA from thousands of people. They searched for small genetic changes that affect diastolic blood pressure.
They found something surprising. People with genes that cause higher diastolic blood pressure were more likely to have higher levels of neuroticism. This means that having a high bottom number in your blood pressure might be linked to feeling more emotionally sensitive or worried.
What’s also interesting is that the researchers did not find a strong link between blood pressure and more general mental health issues like anxiety or depression. This suggests that the connection between our physical and emotional health might be more specific than we thought.
This study gives us a new way to think about how our body and mind are connected. We already know that feeling stressed can temporarily raise blood pressure. But now we also know that consistently high diastolic pressure might play a role in how often someone feels negative emotions over time.
There’s good news here, too. If keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range can help your heart, it might also help your mind. Lowering high diastolic pressure could reduce the emotional burden for some people, helping them feel more calm and balanced.
This doesn’t mean that blood pressure is the only reason someone may feel sad or stressed. Emotions are influenced by many things, like life events, relationships, or brain chemicals. But it does show how important it is to take care of both physical and emotional health.
The study was led by Dr. Cai L and published in the journal General Psychiatry. It helps us understand how closely the body and mind are linked. Healthy habits like exercising, eating well, and finding ways to relax are not just good for your heart—they might also help you feel better inside.
As research continues to explore the deep ties between the heart and the mind, one thing becomes clearer: taking care of your body can also help bring peace to your mind.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing vitamin D could improve blood pressure in people with diabetes.
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