Stress is not good for your ticker
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Your probably know that stress is bad for heart health. But both acute stress — the shock of catastrophe — and chronic stress, like the daily grind of a terrible job and domestic strife — are both bad for your heart.
Physician Andrew Mathias, with UR Medicine Cardiac Care said that acute emotional stress can mimic a heart attack and stun the heart muscle or cause significant weakness.
“Even if you’re having chest pain in an acute stressor, you can’t distinguish that clinically from a heart attack without coming in to get checked,” he said. “Take symptoms like that seriously. The prognosis is usually good.”
He sees many cases of this a year, sometimes influenced by other illness or medical stress. People with a good support system typically fare better when faced with shocking trauma.
Mathias added that a lot of data indicates that generalized anxiety disorder and stress in general are increasing among the population and this is increasing the number of cases of heart attack. That kind of stress can gradually creeps into people’s lives keeping them in a perpetual fight-or-flight mode.
“I counsel my patients in terms of managing stress when they have an event like this, reflecting on things that cause stress and categorizing them as things they can step away from versus things they can’t or don’t want to take out of their life,” Mathias said. “Also, we talk about stress mitigation, including exercise, meditation, mindfulness practice or investing in relationships where they can talk through things. It can be very helpful which can make a difference in prognosis.”
Chronic exposure to stress hormones also raises inflammation in the body. Mathias said that inflammation plays a role in heart disease in causing plaque build-up in the heart arteries. During a heart attack, plaque ruptures.
“A blood clot forms and blood flow is suddenly restricted to the heart,” Mathias said.
Stressed patients are also more likely to engage in behaviors deleterious to good health, such as smoking, poor diet and low activity level. All of these contribute to heart problems.
Arunie Malwatta nutrition and lifestyle medicine physician at Rochester Regional Health, encourages managing stress with counseling.
“Chronic stress is very bad stress,” she said. “It can cause harm to the body. Stress should be a stimulator to keep us ready for a situation.”
Reducing stress can mean walking away from difficult people and situations. Is a relationship, friendship or job that’s constantly embroiled in stress really worth it?
If eliminating the source of chronic stress isn’t possible, mitigating its effects can help reduce the negative impact of the stress. Take time to engage in a pleasurable activity each day. Journaling, keeping a gratitude list, prayer, mindfulness and meditation can all help lower chronic stress levels. Going on more frequent vacations such as quarterly long weekends instead of one week altogether may help manage stress better.
Stay better organized to reduce daily stressors.
Streamlining things with fewer daily choices, tasks and options can simplify life and lower stress. Letting go of unrealistic expectations, such as controlling other people’s responses and choices, can also reduce stress. Learn to delegate, lower standards and accept one’s limitations.