Stress And Heart Disease

Are Stress and Heart Disease Linked

Could stress and heart disease be linked? From a common sense point of view it certainly makes a lot of sense. After all stress is your body's natural fight or flight mechanism flooding the body with multiple stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones put pressure on the heart and arteries, causing the arteries to narrow and the heart to beat faster. The fight or flight mechanism also takes blood away from non essential areas of the body and forces it to the heart and brain in an attempt to survive whatever it has perceived as a threat.

Put plain and simply stress puts pressure on the heart. It makes it work harder than it is would normally and exposes any weaknesses. Add this to the realization that the heart loses pumping power over time and you now have a dangerous, and potentially life threatening situation, for those over the age of 40. It is a lot like driving an old car way too fast, way too often. Eventually what will happen is the engine will stop working, and that is exactly what happens with Stress And Heart Disease.

Perhaps if our flight or flight stress mechanism kicked in just once in a while it would be fine but when you think about how many times a day you feel anxiety, and couple that with the fact that the heart beats 100.000 times a day, and pumps 1, 800 gallons through your arteries and veins each day, all of the sudden it becomes increasingly clear how Stress And Heart Disease could be linked.

Stress basically just wears your heart out prematurely. There is also some evidence to suggest that stress increases blood cholesterol levels which over time has the potential to cause arteries to harden and arterial plaque deposits to form making the hearts job even more difficult. It is safe to say that consistently asking your heart to perform at such a high level will eventually result in irregular heart rhythms, heart attack, or a stroke.

Is it stress that causes heart disease or heart disease that causes stress? At this point no one really know but from my point of view the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, one thing everyone agrees on is that finding ways to cope with stress is only smart preventative medicine.

Coping with stress is not as complicated at one might first think but will require a healthy dose of willpower, along with the willingness to make changes. I will pass on a few I use in my daily life and hopefully you will find them useful.

*Daily exercise: When you are stressed you don't feel like exercising. But if you can get up the willpower to take a 30 minute walk every day not only will you be reducing stress but will be lowering your blood cholesterol levels and secreting feel good endorphins that help you to relax.

*Learn to breath: Deep breathing helps get oxygen into your bloodstream and eliminate toxins. When you feel stress coming on simply take ten deep breaths letting each one out slowly through your mouth.

*Get enough sleep: Sleep is the body's way of resetting the deck chairs after a stressful day. For every hour of sleep lost your chances of arterial calcification increase by a third. So get your rest.

*Talk, talk, talk: Next to exercise there is no better way to relieve nervous tension than through conversation, with women requiring about 2.5 times as many words a men to feel relaxed.

*Medication: Stress and heart disease are both serious problems for which there are many prescription medications available. There are also herbal remedies for anxiety and natural cholesterol reduction supplements. Talk to your doctor to find the best solution for your unique set of circumstances.

Rob Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of natural health products and natural living with over 10 years experience in the field.
Learn more about natural remedies and natural health at purchase remedies.com

Stress and Heart Disease

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