Stop Calling It Stress: The Leadership Lifestyle That Keeps Your Blood Pressure Elevated
Let’s have an honest conversation about something many high-achieving women have normalized:
Living under constant pressure.
If you’re a woman in leadership, you’re used to carrying a lot. You handle business. You solve problems. You show up even when you’re tired. You push through because people depend on you.
And somewhere along the way, “stress” becomes the default setting.
But here’s the truth I learned personally: stress isn’t just a feeling. It has a physical impact. And one of the places it shows up—especially when it becomes chronic—is in your blood pressure.
I know this because I’ve lived it. I was a busy leader who prioritized work over my health repeatedly. I didn’t want to just take medication and continue with the same patterns. As a health and wellness coach, I knew lifestyle changes mattered… so I stopped pretending my schedule was “just the way it is” and started building a plan.
Because you can keep your career and take care of your heart.
But you can’t keep treating your body like it’s not part of the assignment.
The “Leadership Lifestyle” Nobody Talks About
Many women leaders don’t realize how many everyday habits quietly push their blood pressure upward. Not because you’re careless—because you’re busy.
Here are a few common drivers:
Sleep debt (late nights, early mornings, always “catching up”)
High mental load (constant decision-making, problem-solving, managing people)
Caffeine as a coping strategy
Convenience meals (often high sodium even when they look “healthy”)
Long periods of sitting
No real recovery time (rest only happens when something breaks)
And let’s be real—some of you are not just busy. You’re over-responsible. You carry what’s yours, what’s theirs, and what nobody asked you to carry. You’re a leader at work and a leader at home. People lean on you. And you don’t want to let anybody down.
But your blood pressure might be the first thing to finally say, “Enough.”
Here’s the Part That Matters: Recovery Is Not Optional
If your nervous system never gets a break, your body stays in “go mode.” And when your body is constantly in go mode, it becomes harder for your numbers to come down.
That’s why “just relax” is unhelpful advice.
What you need is not a spa day.
You need a repeatable recovery rhythm—small, consistent interruptions to the pressure you live under.
Three Small Changes That Make a Big Difference (Without Quitting Your Job)
Let’s keep this realistic. Here are three steps you can start this week:
1) Add a 60-second pause before your next meeting
Before your next call, put your feet on the floor and take 5 slow breaths.
It sounds simple because it is simple. But it signals your body to downshift.
2) Choose one stress trigger to reduce
Pick just one:
late-night emails
skipping lunch
three coffees and no water
salty takeout “because I’m too tired”
You don’t need to fix everything at once. You need to start.
3) Schedule one “health meeting” on your calendar
You protect meetings for your job. Protect one for your body.
15 minutes this week: check your blood pressure, write down your number, and choose one next step.
That’s not extra. That’s leadership.
A Journaling Moment (Because Pressure Isn’t Just on Your Schedule)
High blood pressure isn’t always just about food and movement. For many women, it’s also about internal pressure—the expectations, the perfectionism, the guilt, the identity of being the one who “handles it.”
Journal prompt:
What do I do to get through the day that’s quietly hurting me?
And another one, because we’re going there:
What am I afraid will happen if I stop being the one who holds everything?
Sometimes the biggest lifestyle change isn’t your diet.
It’s your boundaries.
If You’re Ready for Structure, Not Shame
I don’t teach women to quit their jobs. I teach women to stop quitting on themselves.
That’s why I created Be the Boss of Your Blood Pressure using my C.O.N.T.R.O.L. curriculum—built for busy women leaders who want to manage and control their blood pressure with sustainable lifestyle changes, home tracking, and journaling-based consistency.
If you’re tired of “knowing what to do” but not doing it consistently, you don’t need more guilt. You need a system you can repeat.
Learn more about my “C.O.N.T.R.O.L.” curriculum, and schedule a 30-minute call to get more details on the program.
This isn’t medical advice—it's wellness coaching alongside your provider.
