Behavioral stress, sodium intake, and blood pressure

As a risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality, high blood pressure is a major health problem. Behavioral stress and dietary factors, such as sodium chloride intake, may contribute to the development of high blood pressure. This paper provides a brief review of the literature implicating behavioral stress and dietary factors in the development of high blood pressure and presents the results of two studies which demonstrate that chronic behavioral stress can potentiate the blood pressure response 6 to a high sodium intake in normotensive young adults.