We all get a bit anxious and tense from time to time, but new data suggests that stress is a key factor that is preventing people from protecting their heart health.<\/p>\n
According to an Ipsos B&A survey of 1,018 participants for the Her Heart Matters campaign, stress and lack of time (26%), the cost of health checks (25%), low motivation (23%), expensive gym memberships (21%) and the high price of healthy foods (18%) all play roles in why many women don\u2019t take steps to protect their heart health.<\/p>\n
But what impact can stress directly have on our heart health over time, and is there any way we can manage this?<\/p>\n
We got in touch with Britain\u2019s Nuffield Health, St Bartholomew\u2019s Hospital consultant cardiologist Dr Malcolm Finlay to find out.<\/p>\n
How can stress affect heart health?<\/p>\n
\u201cStress can have direct effects on the heart both acutely and chronically,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the body is well able to cope with levels of stress from time to time, but acute levels of mental stress can occasionally be associated with the trigger for abnormal heart rhythms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a more chronic setting, stress hormones can drive chronically higher blood pressure, which although may be a minor effect, can lead to long-term damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, stress can drive inflammatory responses of the body by the same pathways that are unregulated in mental stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that stress-driving behaviours, such as smoking and drinking alcohol to excess, may also be adverse to heart health.<\/p>\n
Is there a link between stress and arrhythmias?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s substantial direct evidence between how acute mental stress can lead to triggering of arrhythmias,\u201d says Dr Finlay.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to both increase the likelihood of extra or ectopic beats, which tend to be the trigger for arrhythmias, but also can change the complex regulation of conduction in the heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evolutionary background for this is to get the heart ready to adapt to extreme exercise scenarios, but in circumstances when this is purely mental stress rather than extreme exercise, ultimately, this may be counterproductive and allow the onset of an arrhythmia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can stress be a trigger for heart attacks or acute cardiac events?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are well-documented times when acute stress has been ascribed as a trigger event for a heart attack, and this can sometimes be seen in the high risk of cardiac events around surgical procedures,\u201d says Dr Finlay.<\/p>\n
However, he explains that it\u2019s hard to say that this is causative.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, the acute stress event seems to shift the timing of something that would happen anyway, rather than produce a completely new phenomenon,\u201d explains the heart specialist.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf, for example, a person has heart disease and is likely to have a heart arrhythmia within the next few weeks or months, an acute stress event may make them more likely to occur around the acute time of that stress event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Dr Finlay highlights that stress is not the sole contributing factor to heart disease or heart attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cControlling mental stress alone won\u2019t treat heart disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cNor is it sufficient to reliably prevent heart disease,\u201d he clarifies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us will experience stress from time to time and to be able to embrace this and having techniques to manage that will be important rather than to completely try and avoid anything stressful altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n