Stress and Your Heart Health: What You Need to Know

We know that stress can play a role in weight changes, brain health, and poor sleep. So it makes sense that stress can also have a strong impact on cardiovascular health.
How does stress affect your heart?
One of the most direct ways that stress and cardiovascular health are linked is in your blood pressure. When we're stressed, our blood pressure increases, straining the heart. As our stress decreases in the moment, blood pressure should as well. But for people with chronic stress, consistently mid- to high-levels of stress can also keep their blood pressure elevated, making the heart work that much harder. One study found that perceived stress can increase bone-marrow activity (which can lead to atherosclerosis) and arterial inflammation (which contributes to high blood pressure). Studies have also shown that an intensely stressful event, such as losing a loved one, can increase a person's risk of a heart attack (known as "Broken Heart Syndrome").
Indirect ways stress and cardiovascular health are linked
It's difficult, or even impossible, to notice our blood pressure rising or feel the inflammation of our arteries. But there are other ways we can notice how stress is impacting our health, including our heart.
When we're stressed, we can experience a dramatic increase or decrease in our appetite, leading to weight gain or loss. Obesity is strongly linked to heart disease, and being severely underweight can also lead to poor heart health.
We may also find that we have trouble sleeping when we're stressed and anxious. Indirectly, poor sleep can increase cardiovascular disease risk. When we don't sleep well, we can wake up feeling groggy the next day, which may increase our stress, but also contributes to less healthy diet choices and not getting enough exercise.
In a related effect, when we are stressed, we often feel that we don't have time to exercise, because there's something that needs to be done or we exhausted all our energy just getting through the day. But our bodies, especially our cardiovascular system, need a healthy dose of movement.
How to reduce stress and improve heart health
Stress comes in many different forms. Some can be considered "good", such as planning a big celebration, or "bad", but our bodies largely react the same way no matter what causes the stress. What we can do is work to define the stress and identify ways to manage it.
Making sure you're eating a healthy diet is important all the time, but especially during times of stress, when you may want to grab something that's easy and quick, yet probably not as nutritionally beneficial. Sticking to a diet of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats can not only protect your heart but it can also improve your mental health.
Creating a sleep routine that you can stick to can also help mitigate the effects of stress and give your body time to recover from the stress hormones that have been pumping through it. A sleep routine doesn't have to be intense—it may just mean making a cup of caffeine-free tea or drinking some water, taking a few minutes to jot down some of your thoughts from the day, and maybe reading a light book or flipping through the pages in a magazine before going to bed. You could also try adding a melatonin supplement to help kickstart the process of building your sleep routine.
Finding time to work in a bit of exercise can help reduce both stress and your risk of cardiovascular disease. It doesn't have to be an hours-long gym session—a quick walk around the block, or out in nature if that's available to you, can do wonders for your heart and your mental health. Or find a 20-minute yoga session online that you can do from the comfort of your home (even from a chair).
Another way to more directly combat your stress and benefit your heart is to develop a mindfulness routine. Practicing mindfulness can have a positive impact on our sympathetic nervous system, which in turn benefits our heart health.
If you're concerned about your heart health, talk to your primary care provider about your symptoms and the possibility of a cardiology referral. They may also be able to refer you to mental health resources, including mental health professionals or a partial hospital program.
About the Author:
Brown University Health Blog Team
The Brown University Health Blog Team is working to provide you with timely and pertinent information that will help keep you and your family happy and healthy.
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