How Does Stress Cause Heart Disease?
Monday January 5, 2009
For years it has been “common knowledge” that people who are under a lot of stress have an increased risk of heart disease. But is this common knowledge correct? And if so, what kind of stress increases the risk of heart disease, how does it increase risk, and what can be done about it?
Sorting out the effect of stress on the heart is made complicated by three factors: 1) people mean different things by “stress;” 2) the kind of stress people think causes heart disease may not be the worst kind; 3) until recently, there has been little scientific evidence that stress causes heart disease. However, in recent years new information has come to light to help us understand how stress can contribute to heart disease, and what we can do to counter the negative aspects of stress. Read about it here.
Comments
upon leaving the hospital after quad bypass, it was suggested that I stay from stress and anger. The fright/flight thing was pretty prominent in my lifestyle. Trying to quell it is not that easy once it becomes habit/automatic. Still working on it.
Thanks for the article. I read them every week.
Can you comment on whether the catecholamine cascade in emotional stress (leading to Apical Ballooning) is specifically different than that of say being scared? Or is different in that it’s over an extended period of time?
The catecholamine output is pretty much the same. The duration, however, may be quite different.