- Judith Akatugba
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Stress is a common occurrence in the lives of many people. Feelings of agitation, anxiety, depression, and burnout can result from the demands of job, family, and other everyday stressors.
Even though these kinds of everyday difficulties are frequently characterized as minor forms of stress, the truth is that some people will encounter them more frequently and to a greater extent than others. Furthermore, there is growing proof that heart-related health issues are associated with these and other types of stress.
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Stress researcher and University of California, San Francisco professor of medicine Beth Cohen states, “We know from several studies in different populations that emotional and psychological stress is associated with an increased likelihood of developing and dying of cardiovascular disease.”
According to studies on workplace stress, individuals who frequently face stress or put in long hours at work have a 40% higher chance of developing heart disease or stroke in the future compared to those who don’t face such pressure. According to Cohen, “studies have also examined perceived stress, which is the degree of stress an individual reports experiencing, irrespective of the cause.” Once more, studies have shown that those who report experiencing high levels of stress are more likely to experience cardiovascular issues in the future.
In the meanwhile, some of Cohen’s research has looked at the negative impacts of stress on health resulting from extremely traumatic events—like combat deployment in the military or interpersonal abuse. According to her, there is a link between a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related conditions.
Although stress seems to be a significant risk factor for heart problems, researchers are still working to clear out a number of issues about the connection between stress and heart health. How much stress, for instance, is too much? Cohen asserts that not all demanding or stressful circumstances are harmful. “In certain circumstances, like striving to overcome a challenge, short-term stress may even be advantageous.” Another unanswered topic is whether stress directly damages the heart or if stress triggers other harmful habits like smoking, sleep deprivation, or poor eating habits that ultimately cause more damage. It is these kinds of questions that science still struggles to fully understand.
Research teams worldwide are currently working to clarify the precise association between stress and health issues, such as heart disease and other stress-related ailments like Type 2 diabetes. Researchers are beginning to demonstrate how stress can alter a person in ways that may lead to cardiac problems on the inside as well as the outside.
Defining stress
Medical researchers must first define what constitutes “stressed” in order to comprehend the detrimental effects of stress. Said simply, it’s not easily done.
According to Dr. Ian Kronish, an associate professor of medicine and associate director of Columbia University’s Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health in New York, “there is the layperson idea of stress, but defining it more scientifically is challenging.”
According to certain studies, stress can be defined as any physical or psychological stimulus that interferes with homeostasis. According to this broad definition, stress can be caused by rushing to an appointment or watching a thrilling TV show. Both are probably going to increase someone’s blood pressure and heart rate in quantifiable ways. However, the majority of professionals and laypeople agree that these brief episodes of stress are probably not the ones that lead to cardiac issues.
An alternative interpretation of stress includes any experiences or occurrences that cause detrimental alterations in the body’s stress-response mechanism. According to Kronish, these disruptive types of stress may be a factor in heart disease and other medical conditions. Stress can be broadly classified into two categories: acute stress and chronic stress.
Acute stresses are situations that cause the body’s fight-or-flight reaction to become extremely active. “These are situations where an individual’s capacity to manage the demands of the situation is exceeded,” according to Kronish. “Experiencing a significant calamity, stemming from either natural or man-made events such as terrorist attacks, may induce a severe level of stress that causes disruptions in these internal systems.” On the other hand, chronic stress describes stressful events that occur frequently and last for extended periods of time, even though they might not immediately endanger a person’s health. One example of a persistent stressor that may eventually cause disruptions to the body’s stress-response system is having a demanding and demanding job.
Although the notions of acute and chronic stress may appear simple, it can be challenging to determine when and how they negatively impact an individual’s health. Different people will react differently to the same stressful scenario; not everyone who works in a demanding career experiences negative health impacts, and not all veterans with war experience get PTSD. Evidence also suggests that other environmental or lifestyle factors, such as a person’s food, social networks, and exercise routine, may influence whether stress is linked to health issues. “It looks like a big spider web of connections when I try to draw this out for people,” Cohen adds. “A person’s reaction to stress may depend on all of these other factors that are crucial to their cardiovascular and mental health.”
Researchers have also found it difficult to quantify stress. “Unlike blood pressure, which I can measure and know exactly what it means, stress is not something we have,” Cohen explains. Similarly, experts are now unable to tell whether stress was the cause of a person’s health issues when that person has a history of cardiac difficulty. According to Kronish, “we don’t have a test that can tell whether your heart has been negatively impacted by stress.”
Researchers have concentrated much of their emphasis on delineating the fundamental relationships between stress and health in an attempt to fill in these and other gaps. These studies have demonstrated the potential link between acute and chronic stress and cardiac difficulties, diabetes, and other health issues.
The link between stress and the heart
Stress causes the human body to respond in predictable ways. Heart rate and blood pressure rise when breathing quickens and shallows. Blood sugar levels rise and muscles stiffen. Vigilance and focus increase. All of this occurs as a result of the brain and body being overflowed with stress-related hormones, which activate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and prime the body to react to any impending danger. Although a person can experience stress through SNS activation, there is much more going on within them. Actually, every organ and function in the body, including the immune system, is impacted by stress.
This is all perfectly normal and healthy. The body is designed to handle stress, and it usually bounces back from stressful times without suffering any long-term consequences. However, changes that pose a threat to the heart may arise in cases where a stressful event is extremely severe or when stress persists over extended periods of time. “Higher blood pressure, which can be brought on by stress, can put more strain on blood vessel walls and cause cardiovascular damage,” says Dr. Amgad Makaryus, a cardiologist and professor at Hofstra/Northwell Health’s Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine in New York.
One of the numerous ways that stress is thought to contribute to heart problems is the impact it has on blood pressure. “We know that inflammation is one of the end products of stress, but it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how stress is causing damage,” explains Makaryus. Stress often causes brief spikes in inflammatory activity, but long-term stress can result in low-grade inflammation that lasts for a long time. This kind of chronic, simmering inflammation has been linked not only to heart disease but also to Type 2 diabetes, depression, and other mental and physical diseases.
Experts say there are still many unanswered questions regarding the hypothesis that excessive stress harms the body by increasing inflammation and other types of internal dysregulation, despite strong evidence to support this theory. According to Kronish, “the field is still trying to sort out the different biological and behavioral pathways that may link stress and cardiovascular health.” His group has devoted a great deal of work to studying how stress alters behavior and can result in health issues. He claims that while stress can spur some people to take better care of themselves, it can also cause them to give up social events and exercise, smoke or drink more than they otherwise would, and develop other unhealthy habits. “An additional pathway that could link stress to unfavorable cardiovascular outcomes is sleep,” he explains. Research indicates that individuals under stress have a tendency to have poor quality sleep, and chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to a broad range of health issues.
It’s not simple to sort through all of these various stress-related injuries, both behavioral and biological. Most likely, they’re all related. “It seems like a more nuanced narrative, but people talk about a dysregulated stress system a lot,” Kronish says. “There are a ton of variables to sort through.”
How to reduce your risks
There are several ways that stress seems to endanger the heart. Experts concur that defending the heart from an attack might necessitate a multifaceted defense plan. “People should take steps to reduce stress because they have heard that it is bad for their hearts,” adds Kronish. “But the truth is, we don’t currently have a game-changing stress-reduction intervention that we can guarantee will shield everyone’s heart from stress.”
Psychotherapy, for instance, has demonstrated potential in lowering stress and the heart risks that accompany it. Cohen suggests psychotherapy to those with PTSD as well as other stress-related mental health issues such anxiety, sadness, and difficulty falling asleep. Yet, there is conflicting data to back up its heart-protective advantages. According to her, “some trials have examined stress-reduction and psychotherapy techniques.” “There is conflicting evidence regarding their ability to lower the risk of heart disease, but they have consistently improved mental health outcomes.”
Makaryus, meantime, asserts that, at least not yet, medication-based therapies are not the solution. Regarding stress-related cardiac problems, he states, “medications are a big part of cardiovascular disease treatment, but we don’t have an easy pill that will solve this.” “Prevention is the key, in my opinion.”
It should come as no surprise that he and others claim that the tried-and-true components of a healthy lifestyle—time spent with friends, regular exercise, a balanced diet, and restful sleep—can aid in stress recovery and lower the risk of stress-related health issues. Cohen states that “many people connect with family and friends, or connect with a spiritual group, as a way to deal with stress.” According to her, one of the best strategies to lessen the negative effects of stress appears to be to rely on other people for assistance rather than isolating oneself and handling it alone.
Many of us are unable to avoid stress. However, each of us has the ability to lessen the negative effects of stress by improving our diet, exercising, and partaking in other healthful activities. Cohen continues, “We already know many ways how to preserve and protect cardiovascular health, but there are mysteries left to unravel.”
