Blood pressure is common among every individual. This refers to the pressure brought about by the blood flowing through the blood vessels, causing the walls of the vessels to stretch and contract. There are two types of readings associated in determining an individual’s blood pressure. The first is the systolic pressure which measures the blood force against the walls of the vessels at its greatest strength. The diastolic pressure, on the other hand, measures the pressure brought about by blood flow right before the next heartbeat (James & Brown, 1997; PMS, 1996).
High blood pressure occurs when there is an increase in the resistance of the blood vessels on the stretching and contracting motion brought about by blood flow. This is primarily due to the narrowing of the blood vessels and is usually determined by a physician on the systolic blood pressure reading taken from the individual. There are two types of high blood pressure. The first is called Labile Hypertension where the individual’s blood pressure fluctuates from normal to high and vice-versa.
The second is called Sustained Hypertension where the individual experiences high blood pressure all throughout the day regardless of the type of activity that they do (James & Brown, 1997; PMS, 1996). Stress and high blood pressure among women There have been extensive research conducted that have shown that stress has a direct relationship with the occurrence of high blood pressure. One of the major causes of stress is that which is experienced in a working environment.
When an individual is involved with his or her job responsibilities, he or she has to cope with long work hours, numerous deadlines, and changes in responsibilities brought about by a promotion or relocation. Regardless of 2 gender, it has been noted that an individual’s blood pressure will reach its highest while the individual is at work (Haw, 1982; Lennon & Rosenfield, 1992; Sorensen et al. , 1985). Based on this premise, one would assume that high blood pressure is more prevalent among employed married women as compared to married or single men.
This is because unlike men, women need to fulfill multiple roles, which extends outside of the work environment and into the home. Women are responsible for managing the household and meeting the needs of the family. This makes it difficult for women to relax after work. As a result, many studies have shown that women have reported to experience more episodes of stress in their daily lives which leads to chronic problems such as high blood pressure and coronary heart disease (Haw, 1982; James & Brown, 1997; Lennon & Rosenfield, 1992; Lundberg, 1998; Sorensen et al.
, 1985; Verbrugge, 1983). Surprisingly, many studies (Lundberg, 1998; James & Brown, 1997; Sorensen et al. , 1985) have actually concluded that despite the additional responsibilities faced by employed and married women, high blood pressure as a result of stress is more observed among males than females regardless of the males’ marital status. In fact, Haw (1982) noted in her study that employed married women appear to be more satisfied with their work.