3 Reasons High Blood Pressure Can Cause Headaches

High blood pressure runs in my family.

Well the prevalence of high blood pressure almost runs in everyone’s families nowadays it seems. Almost every person I see in the office that is 40 years or older tells me they have high blood pressure or are on the verge of having it.

According to a 2023 American Heart Association report, 122 million Americans ages 20 years and up have high blood pressure…that is an insane stat to me!

High blood pressure is dangerous in and of itself but the biggest thing is the amount of diseases and conditions it is a precursor to. Things like kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke have all been linked to high blood pressure.

Can high blood pressure cause headaches though?

Well the direct answer is no…kind of.

Headaches may not be caused directly from high blood pressure but I believe that high blood pressure and headaches may be caused by the same underlying problem.

This problem might not seem like a huge issue but it can definitely be causing your high blood pressure which may then seem like your high blood pressure is causing your headaches. Here are 3 reasons why your high blood pressure can cause your headaches…or so it may seem.

1. Greater Fluid Volume

If you are someone who gets headaches or migraines then you might notice that one of the triggers is changes in weather patterns. This can get really annoying. You’ll be totally fine but then some sort of storm front starts rolling through and you suddenly are dealing with a headache or migraine…and you can’t do anything about it!

Why does this happen though?!

Well when a storm or change in weather rolls through it usually means there is a low pressure front developing. This low pressure front increases pressure within the body at times causing a higher fluid volume.

If we tie this back to high blood pressure the reason someone has high blood pressure is from greater fluid volume usually tied to Atherosclerosis…or a build up of plaque in your arteries and veins. This automatically decreases the inner diameter of your arteries which increases the pressure of your blood. This increase in pressure is transferred to all areas of the body.

So it makes sense how if you have increased pressure in your body from high blood pressure that you may also get headaches or migraines…just like from a change in weather patterns! Decrease the high blood pressure and you may decrease your headaches or migraines as well.

2. Viva Las Vagus

We ain’t talking about Las Vegas, Nevada.

That would be much more fun though!

Wouldn’t give much information about the topic being talked about at hand though.

We are actually talking about the Vagus Nerve. There has been a lot of talk about the vagus nerve in recent news as people are starting to realize how important it is to our health and the functioning of the body as a whole. The vagus nerve travels to a lot of major organs in the body, including the heart.

If the vagus nerve isn’t working properly it causes our heart to not work to its full potential. This can cause the heart to beat faster than is necessary, and guess what faster beating leads to? Correct, increased blood pressure! Think of it as a hose, if we open the water spigot the hose is connected to only ¼ of the way, the pressure of the hose isn’t very much! If we open the spigot to full 100% that hose becomes really tough to squeeze or pinch closed…the pressure increases drastically!

This is the same with the heart and blood pressure. When the heart starts pumping faster suddenly our blood pressure increases as well. With that being said the vagus nerve also plays a huge roll in what’s called our parasympathetic nervous system. This ties in greatly to our next point…nervous system dysfunction.

3. Nervous System Dysfunction

It makes me happy that nervous system regulation and function is something that is becoming more and more common among everyone. Things like meditation, breathwork, cold therapy, saunas, etc, are becoming more talked about!

At the same time I think a lot of people don’t truly understand the power that the nervous system holds within their body. The nervous system is made up of the brain, brainstem, spinal cord, and nerves. It’s the master control, and communication center of the body. If we have a problem going on with the nervous system it doesn’t cause one specific problem, it can present itself as a bunch of different problems depending on the person.

One of the problems it can cause is headaches, migraines….and you guessed it, high blood pressure.

A couple parts of the nervous system are the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. These are in charge of the rest/digest and fight/flight responses. Think of it as a state of calm and a state of adrenaline. That’s what these two parts of the nervous system are in charge of! What I’ll often find in people that struggle with headaches, migraines, or high blood pressure is that their body is stuck in fight or flight mode…or almost like they are stuck in a mini adrenaline rush all the time!

By working with the nervous system we are able to get things back into working order and shift people from that mini adrenaline rush to a state of calm. When we get them back into this state of being things like headaches, migraines, and blood pressure actually decreases!

So….

Even though high blood pressure doesn’t directly cause headaches usually, they can definitely have a common link! If you’re someone who struggles with high blood pressure along with headaches or migraines, from my experience you most likely have a nervous system issue going on, whether it’s Vagus Nerve related or the nervous system in general. Getting your nervous system in check will make a huge difference in how your body functions and how you feel overall. At The Specific Chiropractic Center Naples we focus on nervous system function and its relationship to people’s symptoms. If you’d like to see if we can help you out give us a call 239-610-1442 for a complimentary phone consultation!

Learn more.

Here are a few more posts on how chiropractic care can help those who suffer from headaches and/or migraines.