Effects of Stress on Heart

From a purely scientific perspective, the affect of mental stress on heart disease is not fully known. However, stress can interfere with the heart’s activities when it sets off the sympathetic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous system that reduces digestive secretions, speeds the heart and contracts blood vessels.

Stress does affect our heart. But the manner in which is affects is not simple. Medical science has yet to establish whether stress alone can cause a heart disorder or whether other problems associated with stress increase the risk of a heart disease. One thing that is known for sure is that chronic stress affects your mind, body and heart and the harm that it can cause is enough to warrant as much attention as other risk factors like high blood pressure, unhealthy lifestyles and obesity.

To understand then manner in which stress affects the heart, it is important to understand what stress is. Stress is a normal response of the body to a threat – real or perceived. In times of stress, signals travel from your brain, through the spinal cord to various other organs in the body where specific hormones are produced. Adrenaline and cortisol are then released. Adrenaline stimulates the autonomic nervous system. Cortisol, commonly called the stress hormone, is active in carbohydrate and protein metabolism. These flow into your nervous and circulatory systems and affect numerous body organs, including the heart to bring about changes that are actually meant to help you to fight or flee from danger. Specific reactions that are triggered in the heart are:

• Increase in heart rate
• Increase in blood pressure
• Release of fats into the bloodstream for use as energy

These physiological changes should not last for a long time since the stress response is meant for meeting emergencies. The way life has changed over centuries has resulted in a position of continuous emotional stress, most of it perceived rather than real. Chronic stress can affect your heart and take a heavy toll on your cardiovascular system in various ways.

• Continuous high heart rate can create problems with heart muscle
• The heart is overloaded when it has to pump in more blood. A prolonged state of hypertension increases risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Over time, release of fats into the bloodstream can potentially thicken the arteries, which can lead to coronary artery disease or heart attack.
• Continued release of cortisol is associated with fat deposits, most often in the abdomen. The resultant ‘apple shape’ is a distinguishing symbol of metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

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