Most people experience stress at some point in their lives. It can come from work, money problems, family issues, or even just the fast pace of daily life.
While short-term stress can sometimes help us focus or react quickly in emergencies, long-term stress is a different story.
More and more research shows that chronic stress can harm the body, and one of the areas most affected is the heart.
Doctors have long known that things like high blood pressure, smoking, and high cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease. But stress is now being recognized as another major factor.
When you’re stressed, your body releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones make your heart beat faster and raise your blood pressure. This is helpful in short bursts—like if you’re running from danger—but if it happens often, it can wear out the heart and blood vessels.
A major study called the INTERHEART study, which looked at people from many countries, found that stress at work and home, along with financial stress, increased the risk of heart attack.
Another study published in the journal The Lancet found that people who had higher activity in the part of the brain that deals with stress—the amygdala—also had more inflammation in their arteries and were more likely to develop heart disease.
Chronic stress can also lead to unhealthy habits. When people are stressed, they may overeat, smoke, drink more alcohol, or stop exercising. All of these behaviors are linked to higher heart disease risk. So in many cases, stress harms the heart both directly—through changes in hormones—and indirectly—by influencing our daily habits.
One surprising condition linked to stress is called “broken heart syndrome,” or stress cardiomyopathy. This is a temporary heart condition that can happen after extreme emotional stress, like the death of a loved one.
It mostly affects women and can feel just like a heart attack. While most people recover, it shows how powerful the link between emotions and the heart can be.
Stress can also affect how well people recover from heart problems. Studies show that people with heart disease who also suffer from anxiety or depression have a harder time healing and are more likely to have another heart problem in the future. This makes managing stress an important part of both preventing and treating heart disease.
The good news is that stress can be managed. Simple steps like regular exercise, deep breathing, meditation, talking to someone you trust, or spending time in nature can help calm the mind and protect the heart. Some people also find therapy helpful, especially if stress is linked to trauma or ongoing life problems.
In summary, science is clear that stress isn’t just in our heads—it affects our bodies too, especially our hearts. By learning to manage stress in healthy ways, we can improve not only our mood but also our long-term heart health.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies about a big cause of heart failure, and common blood test could advance heart failure treatment.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
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