Your body produces a surge of hormones when you're in a stressful situation. These hormones temporarily increase your blood pressure by causing your heart to beat faster and your blood vessels to narrow. There's no proof that stress by itself causes long-term high blood pressure.

Can stress and anxiety cause high blood pressure?

Anxiety doesn't cause long-term high blood pressure (hypertension). But episodes of anxiety can cause dramatic, temporary spikes in your blood pressure.

Is hypertension directly caused by stress?

Although stress may not directly cause hypertension, it can lead to repeated blood pressure elevations, which eventually may lead to hypertension.