How Higher Stress Levels Lead To Heart Ailments

Chicago: A new study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 65th Annual Scientific Session has revealed that people with higher levels of stress also have chances of having more heart ailments than others because of more inflammation in their arteries.

The study involved the researchers looking at the brains and arteries of 293 people. They found that stress activity in an area of the brain called the amygdala, which is where emotions are processed, was linked to more inflammation in a person’s arteries. Dr. Ahmed Tawakol of the Massachusetts General Hospital said: “This is notable because arterial inflammation is an important driver of atherosclerotic disease, the major cause of heart attacks and stroke.” “This study demonstrates, for the first time, that metabolic activity within a key component of the brain’s fear network predicts the development of (heart disease) in humans, independently of established risk factors,” he further added.

The study that was conducted over a period of nearly five years revealed that 35 per cent of the people with high brain stress suffered a heart event. Only five per cent of people with low brain stress experienced an adverse heart problem.

Living a stressful life can cause people to adopt poor habits like smoking and eating badly, which in turn are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But being stressed itself can alter the way the body behaves and this can bring about changes to the blood and nervous system, which can have negative effects on your heart health.

Acute stress reduces blood flow to the heart, promoting the heart to beat irregularly and increasing the likelihood of blood clotting.  All of these can trigger the development of cardiovascular disease. Chest pain is one of the symptoms in this case.

When experienced over an extended period of time, all these effects can cause damage to the lining of the blood vessels.  This makes the blood vessels more susceptible to atherosclerosis.

Medicines are helpful for many things, but usually not for stress. Some people take tranquilizers to calm them down immediately, but it's far better in the long term to learn to manage stress through relaxation, meditation, counseling, yoga or stress management techniques.