Welcome to the Younger Longer 14-Day Blood Pressure Challenge. My name is Dr. Warrick Bishop. I'm a preventative cardiologist and I'm super excited that you're looking to look after your blood pressure. It is one of the most important and really one of the simplest things you can look after to look after your heart for the rest of your life.

During this 14-Day Challenge I'm going to share with you a whole lot of stuff. Every day, a video, some resources, a challenge or a task for you to complete and a fun fact. Stay tuned, your blood pressure is super important. Let me explain to you how, what you're going to do about it and how you're going to look after yourself for the years ahead 

Why Listen?

• Get practical tips and science-backed advice you can apply immediately.
• Learn from real-world examples and medical expertise.
• Gain daily challenges to help you stay engaged and track progress.
• Take charge of your heart health in a simple, effective, and engaging way.

Transcript

Hi and welcome back to day eight and we're in the second half of the challenge. Well done for getting this far. 

Today we're diving into two different players in the blood pressure space, poor sleep and stress. Well you've probably thought of stress but sleep is really really important. I'm not sure if you're aware but just one bad night's sleep can nudge your blood pressure up the next day. It's mainly because if we don't sleep well our body pumps out more cholesterol. That is a stress hormone and cholesterol will push up your blood pressure higher. This is really important particularly over time because if you're consistently not sleeping well your blood pressure will go up and then your blood vessels will start to stiffen up from the damaged caused by that. 

Well it's the same story with chronic stress. Chronic stress will push up your cortisol. Also the adrenaline fight and flight type hormones as well and if your body is constantly thinking it's about to be eaten by a saber-toothed tiger then your heart rate and your blood pressure will be up as you might imagine. Long term this stress without good recovery keeps your blood pressure elevated and will start to damage your arteries and your heart at a microscopic level. 

But the good news is that restful sleep really does give your heart and blood vessels a chance to repair overnight and we see particularly when we put on 24-hour blood pressure monitors that people's blood pressure dips significantly overnight to allow that body to rejuvenate and heal. Relaxation techniques like deep breathing, short meditation, outdoor walks and even a few minutes of stillness and mindfulness can all help in a positive way. Small changes like setting a constant bedtime, limiting screen time at night, good bedtime or sleep hygiene they call it can make a big difference. 

So sleep well, stress less and look after your heart and blood vessels and they'll look after you in the future. Tomorrow I look forward to talking with you about the medications and the impact they can have in giving you the best long-term health span and quality of life. Take care. I hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible and bye for now.

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