Does Mental Stress Affect The Heart?

Each person experiences and responds to stress differently. Stress can slowly but steadily affect the heart health, resulting in heart attacks, irregular heartbeats, heart failure, or stroke. Nonetheless, a person with heart problems might not even be aware that stress is the root of their problems.

Chronic stress has been connected to many negative health outcomes, from a congested daily commute, an unhappy marriage, or an overbearing boss. Your emotions, sleep, and appetite may also be affected due to stress.

Everyday Stress

Severe, acute stress can harm the cardiovascular system, as observed in the case of broken heart syndrome (ref. link). But what about regular stress factors like rush-hour traffic, marital conflict, and workplace anxiety? 

Although it hasn’t been proven, it has been hypothesised that stress causes inflammation, a known cause of heart disease. However, there may be additional subtle ways in which stress might lead to heart disease. Some people act in ways that enhance their risk for heart disease when they are under stress.

Connection Between Mental Health Disorders And Heart Disease

As per reports (ref. link), people suffer from depression, anxiety, stress, and even Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), over a long period of time may experience certain physiologic effects on the body. These include increased cardiac reactivity (e.g., increased heart rate and blood pressure), reduced blood flow to the heart, and heightened levels of cortisol. These effects over time,  can lead to calcium buildup in the arteries, metabolic disease, and heart disease.

Effects of Stress on the Heart

• Stress can lead to acute ischemic attacks (ref. link). Ischemia is caused by coronary artery spasm (ref. link) (a temporary tightening of muscles in the artery), leading to decreased blood flow to the heart.
• The adrenal glands release catecholamines, or stress chemicals like epinephrine, also called adrenaline.
• Higher heart rate
• Higher blood pressure
• Increased need for oxygen by the body (temporarily higher metabolic rate)
• Lower threshold for irregular cardiac rhythms such as atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia. These irregular cardiac rhythms are more likely to occur when the heart’s electrical system is unstable.

Heart Health and Extreme Stress

Stress can undoubtedly have significant physiological consequences on the body, especially the heart. This is especially true when an abrupt and strong (acute) stressor has occurred. 

Blood sugar levels rise along with the blood’s amount of stress hormones. The blood vessel walls may become inflamed if those sugar levels are higher than what the body requires. Inflammation can cause cholesterol-rich plaque to accumulate in the arteries, increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke.

The illness, also referred to as “broken heart syndrome (ref. link),” affects women significantly and more frequently than males, even in people who have never had heart problems. Always keep in mind that stress and anxiety can have subtle impacts on your heart. There are frequently minimal or no symptoms associated with serious illnesses such as high blood pressure, excessive hormone production, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar. Yet they may have a significant long-term influence. 

Ways to Control Stress and Protect Your Heart

Your body experiences physical effects from stress. Anxiety is a sign that you’re stressed out. However, taking medication for anxiety issues does not treat chronic stress.

If you want to reduce your stress and have a healthy heart, try these easy suggestions.

• Ways to reduce stress: Read a book, take a bubble bath, or listen to music. If a method works for you, it is effective.
• Meditation- This method of inwardly directed thought and deep breathing lowers heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure. Find a peaceful place to sit, close your eyes, and concentrate on breathing for a few minutes. Yoga and prayer, closely related to meditation, can help the body and mind unwind.
• Unwind- Since stress follows you everywhere, it is impossible to escape it—severe the chord. Avoid disturbing TV news and emails after work hours. Spend some time everyday for yourself, even if it’s just for 10 or 15 minutes.
• Workout- Your body releases mood-enhancing substances called endorphins whenever you engage in physical activity, such as walking or playing tennis. Exercise relieves stress and helps you maintain a healthy weight while strengthening your heart muscle, decreasing your blood pressure, and protecting against heart disease.
• Be positive- Those with heart disease which keep a positive outlook have a lower mortality rate than those who are more pessimistic. Even a nice laugh might be beneficial to your heart. Laughter has been shown to enhance “good” HDL cholesterol, lower stress hormone levels, and reduce artery inflammation. This same network can assist in lowering your risk for heart attack if you already have heart disease. Having at least one person you can count on relieves stress and brings comfort. A solid support network also enables you to take better care of yourself. According to research, the likelihood of practising bad habits like smoking, eating a diet high in fat, and drinking too much alcohol increases when there is a lack of social support.
• Set priority for what is most important to you and strive for a life-work balance to reduce ongoing stress. Make time for friends and family. 
• Reduce stress through exercise- Regular exercise reduces blood pressure and fights against other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Deep breathing and mindful meditation can both help you manage your stress. Do yoga, which blends relaxation, controlled breathing, and movement.
• Get enough sleep- Stress and sleep are related. Lack of sleep can contribute to stress, which in turn can contribute to greater stress. Improved sleep hygiene is essential for stress management and heart health promotion.

Final Takeaway

Your chance of developing heart disease can increase if you work a demanding job that doesn’t provide you with many opportunities to make decisions or pays little. Work stress becomes much more problematic when you lack a solid support network or suffer from chronic anxiety.

Physical and mental pressures are virtually hard-wired into our existence in today’s fast-paced world. Total stress avoidance is not realistic. Find stress-relieving techniques that are effective for you to lessen the negative effects of ongoing tension on the heart, such as exercise, deep breathing, prayer, meditation or mindfulness, yoga, or massage, to name a few.

Finally, you can be assured of your heart health using our Frontier X2 heart monitoring device. Find out more about this revolutionary technology here.

Frequently Asked Questions on Mental Stress :

How do I know if stress is affecting my heart? 

Constant stress can affect the heart adversely by increasing the blood pressure levels and producing excess stress hormones (ref. link).

Can emotional stress make your heart hurt? 

While experiencing stress or anxiety, the body produces adrenaline and cortisol which make the heart rate increase rapidly. This may result in a lot of people experiencing chest pains, sweating or other discomforts. – 

How do I know if it is anxiety or my heart? 

Chest pain is common during both a heart attack and an anxiety attack. However, the basic difference between the two is the kind of pain. During a panic attack or anxiety pain the chest pain feels like stabbing or sharp sting in the centre of the chest while during a heart attack, the pain resembles pressure and squeeze.

How to get rid of heart pain caused by stress? 

There are various ways to ease chest pain caused by stress and anxiety. 

• Exercise- staying active and exercising serves not only as a good distraction but also helps in increasing the serotonin levels in the body.
• Get a good sleep- lack of sleep or sleep deprivation can cause an increase in anxiety issues.
• Limit caffeine, alcohol and smoking.
• Take deep breaths- deep breathing can help you down and bring down the heart rate.

What happens to the heart during anxiety? 

While suffering from anxiety the body is prompted to go into flight or fight response triggering hormones such as adrenaline. This leads to the heart beat faster and the muscle to get tense.

Other Heart Health Topics To Explore:

AFib Symptoms | Persistent Atrial Fibrillation | Acid Reflux | Increased Heart Rate | Healthy Heart Diet | Heart Arrhythmia | Heart Palpitation | Running Heart Rate Zones | Silent heart attack | Best Heart Rate Monitors

Frontier X2:

Smart Heart ECG Monitor in USA | ECG Machine Price in India | Best Heart Rate Monitor UK