Heart Problems and Mental Stress

Majority of the people in urban areas are well aware about heart disease and the risks associated with the same. They opt for various tests that scan their physiology, however they end up ignoring a major risk factor of heart disease – STRESS.

Living in urban areas makes one prone to stress . Work pressure, relationships, deadlines, installments, travel timings all create havoc in oneslife. Some studies show that acute stress triggers reduced blood flow to the heart, promotes your heart to beat irregularly and increases the likelihood of your blood clotting.  All of these can trigger the development of cardiovascular disease.

Stress and heart:

Although the link between stress and heart disease is not very clear and more research is required on this risk factor. But stress certainly triggers a chain of events which can lead to multiple heart problems like stress cardiomyopathy (weakness of heart muscles), irregular and extra heart beats, damages to the wall of arteries and hence accelerated atherosclerosis – a process which leads to blockages, heart attacks due to increased blood clotting and spasm of artery leading to rupture of even nerves.

All these can lead to rise in BP, heart rate, rise in blood sugar levels and hence the worsening of overall cardiac risk profile. Most of us are gripped with one or the other kind of stress ex: – work pressure, family responsibilities , multitasking by working, business failure, worries for promotion/targets/ salary , divorces, death etc etc.

How can we get over this killer risk factor?

Remember each one of us faces stress but the difference in impact comes with the fact that how one deals with it.Some simple ways to handle stress related problems are:

• Eat healthy
• Indulge in regular exercises as simple as brisk walking
• Do Yoga
• Meditate –Practice Pranayam
• Do Reflex therapy

Keep in mind that although everyone these days wants to play T20 matches instead of test matches in search of quick money but it zaps you of your energy at the same time.

So GO SLOW AND GO HAPPY should be the slogan for a peaceful mind, belly and heart.