How Stress Can Affect Your Heart Health

                                                      

We all experience stress, but many people have trouble dealing with their stress.  Stress can affect every aspect of life, both physically and emotionally.  There are many ways that you can experience the effects of stress on your physical body. Research studies have linked stress with heart disease, weight gain (or loss), cognitive impairment, your blood pressure (and risk of stroke) and even some forms of cancer.  

Other physically related health concerns caused by stress include sugar diabetes, hyperthyroidism, sexual dysfunction, tooth and gum disease, ulcers and even hair loss. There are many causes of stress, such as having very busy lifestyle, factors at work, personal relationships, inadequate sleep, poor eating habits (nutrition), lack of physical exercise, environment, and etc. 

All of these stress related factors can impact your physical health. It has been estimated that as much as 90% of doctor's visits are due to stress related symptoms in one way or the other.  It has also been noted that one in every seven men will suffer a heart attack or other disabling heart disease before the age of 60. 

There are a couple of different types of stress that can lead to heart problems. The first is chronic emotional stress in which you may be more likely to develop atherosclerosis, the heart disease process that produces coronary artery disease, stroke and peripheral artery disease.  

If you suffer from this type of stress, the symptoms of which include clenched teeth, a surge of adrenaline with the fight-or-flight reaction (commonly manifested as frustration, anger or hostility) you are more at risk for atherosclerosis.

Stress, even at normal everyday levels, can cause a temporary worsening in your vascular functions.  Hormonal changes can increase the amount of adrenaline in your bloodstream.  With chronic emotional stress, adrenaline is pumped into your bloodstream at increased levels and those changes can persist, that can lead to increased inflammation, and this is associated with an elevated risk of atherosclerosis.

Similarly, chronic emotional stress often goes hand-in-hand with other cardiovascular risk factors.  For example, smokers under stress commonly increase their tobacco consumption (which can lead to an increased risk of cancer), while others turn to overeating (causing weight gain).  Cholesterol levels also tend to go up during periods of increased stress.

Life events can be extremely stressful.  Consider the death of a loved one, loss of a job, business failure, exposure to natural disasters (such as a flood or earthquake), being the victim of a violent crime, or the break-up of your family unit.  The anxiety associated with these extreme life events produce the type of stress can definitely increase your cardiac risk.  

This increased risk of stress related heart attack is caused by significant rise in blood pressure, your heart rate, vascular tone (or vein constriction), inflammation and accelerated blood clotting.  All of these factors can lead to stress-related heart attacks.

If you feel that stress is becoming overwhelming in your life and may be affecting your heart health, it may be wise to seek help in finding ways to reduce your stress or find strategies to help you cope with the stress you are going through.  If you do not take any action, you may find that the effects of stress on your heart may lead to a significant risk to your heart health.