Reducing Stress Reduces Heart Problems

Stress is one of the top reasons for visiting a doctor today. Many of the health conditions we experience are related to stress either directly or indirectly. So, it makes sense that finding ways to reduce our stress can also help us reduce our risk of health problems, including heart problems.

Reducing stress where possible and learning how to cope better with unavoidable stressors can help reduce your risk of having heart problems.

Let’s look at how stress can affect your heart health and what you can do to reduce stress and strengthen your coping skills.

How Can Stress Affect Your Heart Health?

Stress may come across as being a mental or emotional issue but being under chronic or extreme stress can also create physical symptoms.

Here are some of the health conditions stress can lead to that will affect your heart health:

• Increased heart rate
• High blood pressure
• Asthma
• Ulcers
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Anxiety

When you’re under stress, your fight-or-flight response activates, which raises your heart rate and blood pressure along with adrenaline and cortisol. This response is useful for emergency situations so that you can summon the energy you need to run or defend yourself, but that response isn’t as relevant today as it was back in the days of cavemen and women.

Our bodies can still experience the same fight-or-flight response today although it’s more likely to be related to traffic, work demands, or financial concerns than it is to be from being chased by a tiger. The thing is that today’s stressors can be more frequent so your fight-or-flight response is activated more often, and this is what leads to health conditions that can negatively impact your heart health.

There are also some indirect ways that stress can affect your heart by making you more likely to engage in certain behaviors:

• Smoking
• Drinking excessive alcohol
• Overusing pain medications
• Overeating
• Sleeping excessively or sleep deprivation
• Sedentary lifestyle

Unfortunately, some of the ways we cope with stress are not helpful in the long run and can be harmful to your heart. It’s important to find healthier ways to reduce and handle stress.

How Can You Reduce Stress in Your Life?

Stress is unavoidable. We all experience it and there’s no way to completely remove it from our lives. Since stress is inevitable, it’s worth our time to find ways to reduce stress wherever we can. Most people are able to manage a reasonable amount of stress. It’s when that stress becomes overwhelming or chronic that it starts to affect our health.

Learn to say no.

Sometimes our stress comes from the demands of others. It’s understandable to want to help out our friends or family members, but you need to know where to draw the line. Sometimes our loved ones grow so accustomed to depending on us to help them out that they don’t ever really try to accomplish things that they are fully capable of. If you allow yourself to be taken advantage of, the stress will eventually manifest into physical and emotional symptoms. Protect your heart by putting your foot down as needed.

Ask for help.

Do you have friends or family members that are always asking you to help them out? Ask them to return the favor. When you’re in over your head, it’s okay to seek assistance, especially when you’ve offered it to others in the past. There’s no need to try to take on everything on your own when it’s leading to overwhelming stress.

Eat a healthy diet to help regulate your mood.

When you’re stressed out, it’s easy to reach for comfort foods to soothe your soul but these are often high in saturated fats, sugar, and sodium. This will result in blood sugar fluctuations and increase blood pressure which will leave you feeling even worse.

For a steadier mood, add some of the following foods to your diet:

• Dark chocolate with 70% or more cocoa content. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants that can help reduce stress hormones in your body. But of course, this should be consumed in moderation. Aim for no more than 1 to 1.5 ounces per serving.
• Eating whole grains can increase your serotonin levels, which is the hormone that helps to boost your mood and reduce stress. Some good choices are whole rye, buckwheat, or brown rice.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are great for relieving stress and anxiety as well as promoting heart health. You can find these in fatty fish like salmon as well as avocados, flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, and even some brands of eggs.
• Calcium-rich foods can also provide some stress relief, especially when they have added vitamin D. Some good options would be organic milk, cheese, yogurt, leafy green vegetables, and almonds.

Rethink your drinks. When you’re dealing with stress, you’re more likely to seek out drinks with caffeine, alcohol, or loads of sugar.

Instead, try to substitute with beverages that have health benefits and stress-reducing properties:

• Drink more water to help encourage proper blood flow within your body.
• For a more soothing effect, drink herbal teas, especially chamomile and lavender which are known to have stress-relieving properties.
• If you really need a little caffeine boost, green tea is the healthiest choice. It contains L-theanine which provides calm energy, while its flavonoids can help support your brain health.

How Can You Strengthen Your Stress Coping Skills?

While we all have stress in our lives, each of us responds to stress in different ways. One event that may be extremely stressful for one person may seem like no big deal to another. One of the best ways to deal with unavoidable stressors without getting overwhelmed and letting them affect your health is to strengthen your coping skills. Unfortunately, this won’t make the stress go away, but it will improve how you respond to the stress.

Breathing exercises can help relieve stress as well as keep you in a more relaxed state of mind if done regularly. If you’re able to cultivate a calmer mindset more often, things that used to stress you out will have less of an effect on you.

Meditation can affect your brain in ways that can improve your stress response. Over time, you can develop more patience and tolerance. Regular meditation can also help reduce blood pressure and relax the body and mind. Improved sense of awareness and ability to focus on the present moment will be beneficial for handling stressful situations in the future.

Cultivating a positive mindset can make you more resistant to stress-related symptoms. Focusing on the good things in your life can help improve your mood and increase your resilience to stress. Realize that some things in life cannot be changed and it isn’t worth it to stress about them. Put your focus on what you can control instead.

Summary

Now you know how stress reduction can be beneficial for your physical and mental wellbeing. You also know some of the negative impacts stress can have on your cardiovascular health.

While a healthy diet and lifestyle are extremely helpful for a strong cardiovascular system, it’s important to seek out professional care if you have a history of heart disease or experience any symptoms related to heart disease. If you’re experiencing symptoms of poor cardiovascular health that don’t respond to diet and lifestyle changes, contact us today to book an appointment.