There seems to be a pretty simple answer; but no one ever made the connection for me until I had the idea for this blog post. A paper in the JOURNAL OF HYPERTENSION, noted: “Yes, there is a strong connection between blood glucose and blood pressure, as both conditions share risk factors, have common underlying mechanisms, and can worsen each other. High blood sugar can lead to high blood pressure by damaging blood vessels, while the two conditions often coexist due to shared factors like obesity, inflammation, and insulin resistance.”
As well, the website of New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Diabetes Resource Center notes, “Two out of every three people with Type 2 diabetes also have high blood pressure. Both are diseases of lifestyle and aging and share common risk factors. The good news is that diabetes and hypertension can be modified through behavior, including eating a healthful diet, exercise, weight control and, if your doctor prescribes it, medication. Either a T2 diabetic does not have enough/or effective enough insulin to process glucose so that it accumulates in the bloodstream causing widespread damage to the blood vessels and kidneys.”
While this sounds dire – and it IS, the good news is that both can be modified through behavior, including eating a healthful diet, exercise, weight control as well as medication.”
What started me on this is looking at my numbers after I started taking Ozempic-brand semaglutide (what does it do, anyway??? I know it lowers my blood sugars, BUT HOW? “semaglutide works by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 to help the pancreas release insulin, lower blood sugar, and reduce the amount of sugar released by the liver.”)
Ohhhh! So, that’s what happens?!
But you know what? Shooting myself once a week with semaglutide does NOT work miracles! I can’t eat like a pig, take my shot and then slim down to my high school weight and build! I had to make LOTS of changes in how I ate – fewer in what I DID (During the brief period of “warm Minnesota weather”, I bike somewhere between 4 and 20 miles a week. More difficult is the rest of the year – so this winter, I’ve decided to walk a mile (working up to two, and MAYBE three) every other day. I’ve never done that before. It’s a new adventure.
All that to point out a couple things. First, is that I’m a retired science teacher. I LOVE data. So, when I began my journey in T2, I started to record on a chart EVERY DAY – the date, time, blood pressure, weight, and blood sugars. Starting on February 24, 2023 with a BP of 155/80, weight of 253.8, and blood glucose 189…I pretty much ignored the numbers until my doctor prescribed semaglutide in August of 2025 (yes, only three months ago!). My current (as of yesterday) data is BP = 127/71; weight = 233.8; glucose = 134 (average of last 10 days, 124.86).
I discovered VISCERALLY that when I walk and watch what I eat, my blood pressure comes down as does my blood glucose. So, I can report to you that I KNOW the statement is true: blood pressure and blood sugars ARE intimately connected…
Just so you know.
Links: https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/fulltext/2025/05002/the_correlation_between_blood_glucose_levels_and.76.aspx
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