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.
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.
“Stress is a leading factor for heart disease right along with unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol use and obesity,” said Lynne Shapiro, American Heart Association board president in Syracuse and chief nursing officer at Crouse Health. “Stress can increase inflammation in the body and this is linked to factors that can harm your heart such as high blood pressure. Stress can also affect your ability to sleep well, make poor food choices and less motivation to exercise.”
Chronic exposure to stress hormones also raises inflammation in the body.”
Physician Andrew Mathias, affiliated with University of Rochester Medical Center, said that inflammation plays a role in heart disease in causing plaque build-up in the heart arteries. During a heart attack, plaque ruptures and blood doesn’t flow to the heart.
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.
“Recognize that stress can have harmful consequences,” Shapiro said. “Talk with your health care provider; they can share helpful recommendations, resources and tools to help people better manage your stress.”
One way to manage stress is practicing mindfulness.
Allison Graff, owner of A. Graff Mindful Health Coach in Camillus, is a mindfulness coach.
She describes mindfulness as “being present wherever your feet are; your mind is there too. It’s a state of being, a practice, whatever you find that helps you be in the here-and-now.”
She said that meditation is one example of mindfulness, and that mindfulness is also part of yoga. But people don’t have to take classes to be mindful. It’s more about remaining completely in that moment without thinking of the past or future and becoming absorbed into the sensory input of that moment.
“Anxiety is typically produced when we ‘future tell’ and think about it,” Shapiro said. “Depression is commonly the replaying of things that have past.”
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.