{"id":5719,"date":"2019-04-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herheart.org\/2019\/04\/16\/stressimpacts\/"},"modified":"2019-04-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T14:00:00","slug":"stress-impacts-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/area54.thedct.net\/herheart\/stress-impacts-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Stress Impact Your Heart?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYes. We get it. Stressed is bad, relaxed is good. But we\u2019re all stressed. Life is stressful. What should we do about it?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

April is Stress Awareness Month, and according<\/a> to the UK Mental health Foundation, 74% of adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.<\/p>\n

\"stress<\/p>\n

However, stress is an inevitable fact of life, and we cannot tell you to cut out all stresses in your life (as a matter of fact, that\u2019s not healthy either).<\/p>\n

The most important thing is to manage stress in your life, and limit the amount of stress you can change, that you are exposed to. It\u2019s important to take a step back and understand the underlying biological factors that lead us to being stressed, and what it does to the heart.<\/p>\n

Stress is your body’s response to a change or a challenge.\u00a0Long-term stress raises your risk of heart disease. If you have heart disease, long-term stress also makes you more likely to have a heart attack.\u00a0An emotionally upsetting event, especially one involving anger, can be a trigger for heart attack. Stress also may indirectly raise your risk of heart disease if it makes you more likely to smoke, eat unhealthy foods, or less likely to exercise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/a> recently published a user\u2019s guide on how important it is to understand the body\u2019s reaction behind prolonged exposure to high amounts of stress in a lifetime. When stress occurs regularly over a long time, it does increase risk of heart issues in the future.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cStress<\/i> increases blood pressure and temporarily makes the blood stickier and more likely to clot, meaning that, over prolonged periods, it can raise the risk of heart disease.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, it\u2019s important to note that research does not condone to be chill and relaxed without any stress or challenging times in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pursuit of a stress-free life is not healthy.
\nIt is like exercise. It\u2019s uncomfortable, but you build stamina and strength.\u201d
\n\"\"
\nAdrian Wells
\nProfessor of Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology at the University of Manchester<\/p>\n

In so many of these situations, we realise that moderation is key, and the ways in which to manage stress become crucial. But when stress overtakes you? Here\u2019s what can happen:<\/p>\n