Stress can damage your heart! How Chronic Stress affects Cardiovascular Health

Effective chronic stress on cardiovascular health. Stress is something that's present all around us. It's a state of emotional strain or attention that we feel in response to certain circumstances that happen around us. Everyone is stressed. You, your friend, your teacher, and your neighbor. In fact, according to research studies, 75 percent of Americans experienced moderate to high stress levels in the past month, and about 33 percent of adult Americans It's therefore evident that stress affects everyone of all ages for the entirety of their lives. It's a normal thing to feel, and short lived amounts of stress can actually help you provide motivation and help you finish your assignments on time. It can be a protective mechanism. However, it becomes a problem based on the amount we experience, how we react to it, and how we manage it, as it can actually dictate how it affects our physical health, specifically our cardiovascular system. If one's stress levels remain high for long periods of time, this is known as the condition of chronic stress. It may induce many physical symptoms in the body. This can then manifest and indirectly be the cause of many long-term and life-threatening diseases. Some common types of chronic stressors include financial problems, job and school stress, family and marriage difficulties, and health problems. We all know university students are regularly exposed to stress due to rising academic pressures. Let's go personally talk to some students at McMaster University about their experiences, especially how they feel during this midterm season. On a scale from 1 to 10, how stressed out of a person are you right now? 10 being the weakest? I'm gonna give it a 7. When you're stressed, do you have any physical symptoms like sweating, your heart beating fast, headache? I think yes, sweating is one of them, heart beating fast, headache, So on a scale from 1 to 10, how stressed out of a person do you think you are right now? 10 being the worst? So I am pretty stressed right now. I am prepping for interviews. I would give it like a 7.8. So when you are stressed, do you have any physical symptoms like sweating, a headache? I do get headaches sometimes. I find that well, I used to get heart palpitations. Not anymore, but I feel like headaches would probably be a big one. So on a scale from 1 to 10, how stressed out are you guys right now? 10 being the worst? Probably like 6 or 7. Do you want the honest answer? Honestly it's 8, but in my head it's like a 12. So when you guys are stressed, do you have any physical symptoms like sweating, headache? I just tend to get like a bit more sleepy, so it's harder to stay awake. Yeah, same. I usually get burnt out. Stress is known as a silent killer, as it's indirectly associated with cardiovascular disease, which is the top cause of death globally. Therefore, stress can quite literally break your heart. Stress isn't just an emotion. Some physical symptoms are sweating, hyperventilating, and increased heart rate. This is due to the fight or flight response created by the sympathetic nervous system. This response kicks in due to the release of hormones called adrenaline and cortisol that help us act quickly in emergencies. Once the stress has passed, our bodies then return back to normal. Now, in those suffering from chronic stress, the stress response is prolonged, resulting in an inability for our bodies to return back to normal homeostatic levels. The constant flood of these hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, signal the heart to continuously beat faster and the blood vessels narrow for long durations, thus increasing blood pressure in the long term. This exerts the heart, as it's causing the organ to work way harder than it should have to in order to pump blood out to the rest of the body. The overworking of heart muscle therefore leads to cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and abnormal heart rhythms. Chronic stress is so impactful that it was seen to increase susceptibility to Another harmful physiological effect of chronic stress involves a stress center in the brain, the amygdala. The amygdala signals the bone marrow to produce an increased amount of immune cells, also known as white blood cells in the form of leukocytes and monocytes. Over time, these extra cells that are produced contribute to a buildup of fatty deposits in our arteries called plaque. This narrows the diameter of our arteries, resulting in the inflammation of our arterial walls. This is a condition called atherosclerosis, which is a huge risk factor for cardiovascular events and disease. This is because these inflamed arteries induce the creation of blood clots, which cause a blockage of blood and oxygen to the heart, and in severe cases cause cells in the heart to die. This is what starts the mechanism of a heart attack. An additional point to consider is that individuals with chronic stress are more likely to be coping with unhealthy habits. These habits can include smoking, alcohol usage, lack of physical activity, and unhealthy diets. These behaviors increase the risk factors of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Now let's hear from an expert opinion for some advice on how we can cope with our stress in healthy ways to protect our cardiovascular system. The most important thing is the coping mechanism. There is no strict criteria for coping mechanism. The most important is how we deal with it and it affects our well-being. So I think the most important for the management of the stress is to adopt and maintain a daily habit, especially sleep, exercise, diet, and connect with your friends and families. Sleep is very important to have a sleep hygiene, that means sleep properly, sleep in a sound, quiet room, dark room, and preferably go to bed every night at the same time, if it's possible, and not to take any beverages or large meal or alcohol before sleep, and eat healthy regularly in a regular interval, and the most important I think is also connect with the people, especially your family and friends. Talk to the family and friends regarding your concerns, and if you really need further help, I think you should reach the professionals like psychologists or your family physician. The moral of the is that stress is a normal human response that motivates us to deal with problems and dangers in our lives. Everyone goes through periods of stress, but how we handle this stress has a significant impact on our overall physical and emotional well-being. Developing coping mechanisms for stress can make us feel less overwhelmed and promote our mental and physical health. We hope that you found this video helpful and learned more about this topic. Thank you for listening!