Stress & Heart Disease – Find out How Stress is Bad for Your Heart
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
For several years now, there has been stories in the media that have discussed the link between stress and heart disease. The link is that your risk of heart disease increases when you are under constant and long-term stress. One way to relate to this would be to think of how burnt-out your mind can feel when you are under stress. Same thing goes for your heart.
In this article, I will provide you with information about stress, how it affects your body, and in particular, why it affects your heart.
You may have heard about good and bad kinds of stress. Good kinds of stress are things like moving to a new home, tying the knot, or having a newborn to look after. Examples of bad kinds of stress are illness, death, or dealing with bullies at school or at work.
What is important to realize is that there are positive and negative types of stress. Positive types of stress include moving to a new city, having a work deadline to meet, or having a baby. Negative types of stress, on the other hand, include death of a loved one, loss of a job, and so on. However, when the stress does not go away and stays with you all the time, is when you can become ill.
Stress becomes pathological when it never goes away, and you are constantly dealing with it. Before long, you may notice that your body begins to feel like it’s falling apart. You may feel nervous, anxious, clammy, have a high heart rate, be unable to sleep, have headaches, and so many other signs and symptoms.
Things that you may not notice, in addition to the high heart rate, is that your blood pressure will go up, and your blood sugar levels rise. These things are the result of two hormones in your body, called adrenaline and cortisol. When the stress is not turned off, they continue to be secreted. Adrenaline and cortisol are helpful for dealing with short-term stress events for supplying your body with the necessary oxygen and nutrients needed to deal with the stressful situation. However, when these hormones continue to be secreted, your body does not shut itself off. Your heart is working steadily and more forcefully than it has to, and this is what can harm it. Fatty plaques are increased in the heart’s arteries, and your heart can become weaker over time. Often, people will have heart attacks during times of prolonged stress.
It is very important to get stress in your life under control. The first step is recognizing that you are under stress. Next, you want to be able to start reducing or eliminating as much stress as possible. This may mean changing jobs if it is the job that is your source of stress, or learning how to be able to say “no” rather than take on every task that comes your way. As well, exercise and yoga or immersing yourself in a loved hobby can do wonders in reducing the stress you are under.
In conclusion, learning to take control of your stress is the best thing that you can do for your heart and your overall well-being. Although stress can be good in the short-term, it is when it becomes long-term that things start to go wrong.
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