Mental Stress Is the Biggest Danger for the Heart
By Sandy Schroeder
The heart is a fragile target. High cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity and lack of exercise can all lead to a heart attack, but now there is a bigger danger. Researchers have found mental stress is an even bigger risk for heart disease.
When you lose money, have a sick child, or lose your job, the mental stress can cut the flow of blood to the heart. Over time extreme mental stress may lead to a heart attack.
When my mother had a heart attack, the doctors asked if she was a smoker because her arteries were so narrow. She had never smoked, but she had weathered many very stressful situations that may have reduced the flow of blood to her arteries and led to her heart attack.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medicine Association (JAMA) supported the impact of mental stress. The researchers looked at 900 people with underlying heart disease to see how their bodies reacted to mental and physical stress.
The participants were given physical and mental stress tests and monitored for myocardial ischemia, which is a significant loss of blood flow to the muscles of the heart, which can trigger a heart attack. The study showed mental stress had the strongest impact.
What Stress Does to the Heart
The trouble starts in the amygdala, the body's fear center where the "flight or fight" response releases hormones that increase blood pressure, body fat and insulin resistance. Then the arteries become inflamed, blood clotting is more likely and arteries may harden. To reduce the danger, you need to lower the mental stress in your life.
How to Erase Damaging Mental Stress
If you have ongoing mental stress, and are worried about the impact on your heart, talk with your doctor and review your health. Your doctor can help you find ways to reduce stress. Here are more ways to stress less.
Meditate morning and evening - Use 10 minutes in the morning and 10 in the evening to sit quietly and breathe deeply as you let the world flow by unjudged. Later you will feel better and think more clearly.
Get outdoors and get moving - Head out for a walk or a run in the morning or the evening. Practice yoga or tai chi, or go biking with your family.
Enjoy music, art, crafts or cooking - Lose yourself in your hobbies as you let the tension go.
Let humor ease the tension - Try to see the funny side as you move through the day. Funny friends, jokes and old movies can lighten your thoughts and help you relax.
Reach out to friends and family - When worries build, turn to trusted connections to vent a little and regain your perspective. Often they will have fresh ideas and good suggestions to help you let go of the tension.
Start treating your heart better as you find more ways to let go of mental stress.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Pearland, Tex.