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Harmful Effects of Mental Stress

Research Shows Mental Stress Can Triple Risk Of Death

Medical researchers, financed by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the stress effects of mental stress, reported to the America College of Cardiology their findings that 173 volunteers subjected to various modes of mental stress experienced an average spike of 40 points in their blood pressure and, in half of them, sections of the left ventricle muscle beat erratically -- even though they did not experience any chest pain!

Mental Stress and Decreased Coronary Blood Flow

New research from the University of Florida, also to study the stress effects of mental stress, found that a third of the patients in their study experienced decreased coronary blood flow while they were under mental stress anxiety, even though they performed well on treadmill stress tests or chemical cardiac stress tests. A decrease in the blood flow to coronary heart muscle, medically termed cardiac ischemia – robs the heart muscle’s supply of oxygen, which can signal a possible heart attack in the future. And many times, this ischemia does not cause a person to feel any chest pain.

Mental Stress and High Blood Pressure

In a study of work stress that followed more than 6,719 white-collar workers for 7.5 years, Canadian researchers found that those with high job demands, and low levels of social support in the office, tended to have higher blood pressure than other workers. The relationship was stronger among men than among women. Men experiencing high job strain registered a higher blood pressure and greater potential for blood pressure increases over time, as opposed to men with less work stress. What’s more, the study discovered that men and women who experienced little support from their bosses and co-workers appeared to be especially vulnerable to the blood pressure effects of job strain.

Mental Stress, Depression and Disease

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, men with major depression have an exaggerated inflammatory response to stress, and that may shed some light on why conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes often go hand in hand with depression. In the September issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Andrew H. Miller, M.D., of Emory University School of Medicine found, "This is the first time anyone has shown evidence to suggest that the inflammatory response to stress may be greater in depressed people," they said.

When medically health, depressed and non-depressed volunteers were subjected to stress anxiety situations, the men with depression had elevated levels of inflammatory markers in peripheral blood -- plasma samples were checked for levels of interleukin 6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine.

The rise in inflammatory response found in depressed patients could be a result from changes in neuroendocrine function, in the way of increased sympathetic nervous system responses and altered glucocorticoid feedback regulation. Sympathetic nervous system activation has been shown to enhance inflammatory responses," they wrote, "and major depression patients with early life stress or post-traumatic stress disorder have been shown to exhibit enhanced sympathetic nervous system responses."

Mental Stress Raises Cholesterol in Healthy Adults

While there’s plenty of evidence showing that stress increases heart rate, lowers our immune response to colds and flu and increases inflammatory markers in the body, new evidence shows that mental stress, over time, actually raises lipid levels also. In a study entitled, “Associations Between Acute Lipid Stress Responses and Fasting Lipid Levels 3 Years Later" (published by American Psychological Association’s Health Psychology), researchers Andrew Steptoe, D. Sc., and Lena Brydon, Ph.D., of University College London detailed their examination of 199 healthy middle-aged men and women. They specifically studied how the subjects reacted to stress and whether their reactions could increase cholesterol and heighten cardiovascular risk in the future.

The participants were examined for including low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) at the beginning and 3 years after its conclusion. The stress rating procedure involved examining the subject’s cardiovascular, inflammatory and hemostatic functions before and after their performance on moderately stress related activities.

In retrospect, Dr. Steptoe commented, “It would seem that an individual's reaction to stress is one pathway that higher lipid levels develop. Some of the subjects showed large increases in lipids even in the short term.” In the 3-year follow up, those participants in the top third of stress responders were three times more likely to have a level of 'bad' (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol above clinical thresholds than were people in the bottom third of stress responders. These dissimilarities were completely separate of the baseline quantities of cholesterol levels, age, gender, body mass index, smoking or alcohol consumption.

Mental Stress and Headaches

Tension Type

Headaches are the most frequent cause of absenteeism from work and school and tension headaches (the most common type) are usually triggered by environmental or internal stress. Tension-type headaches are frequently found in adults and adolescents and affect 90% of the population. Tension headaches come about from the contraction of neck and scalp muscles. While the brain is not sensitive to pain, the nerve responsible for transmitting pain impulses is the trigeminal nerve, relaying sensations coming from the head and neck region.

Physical stress causes can be holding the head in same position for a long time (typing, computer use, precision handwork, etc.) The characteristic symptoms of tension headaches are: steady aching in the forehead, temples, back of the head and neck, or all regions. Pressure is on both sides of the head, feeling like a tight band sensation or the proverbial head-in-a-vice sensation.

Chronic Tension Headaches

If a headache occurs 2 or more times weekly for several months or longer, the condition is considered chronic. They are usually triggered by a stressed situation or a buildup of stress. Daily stress from a high-pressure job or hostile domestic situation can lead to chronic tension headaches. They affect approximately 3 percent of the population and tend to be more common in females and in students who are high achievers.

Migraine Headaches

Though more rare, this type does affect around 10% of population. Rather than resulting from muscle contraction, the recurring severity of the pain indicates a vascular headache (swelling of blood vessels). During stressed events, chemicals in the brain are released to ready the body for combat and these chemicals can provoke vascular changes that trigger headaches or make them worse. Three-fourths of adult migraine patients are women. Throbbing moderate to severe pain is usually on one of the head side (sometimes both sides) and is often accompanied by hypersensitivity to light and sound, numbness, tingling, weakness, and nausea. Some times the individual sees flashes of light (aura).

Mental Stress and Migraines

Military doctors reported to the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society that combat soldiers in Iraq were more than twice as likely to suffer migraine headaches than the general American population. Before being deployed, just 1-in-20 of them had been previously diagnosed. Captain Brett Theeler, MD, presented the data. Later Theeler commented, “While the reason for the high rate isn’t entirely known, it is likely due to the stress, trauma and sleep deprivation faced by the soldiers.”

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Sources: Physiology and Neurobiology of Stress and Adaptation: Central Role of the Brain Physiology Reviews 87: 873-904, 2007 Stress Hormones: How Do They Measure Up? Biological Research For Nursing Vol. 4, No. 2, 92-103 (2002) The Cellular Neurobiology of Depression Nature Medicine 2001 May;7(5):541-7 What Causes Migraines? (www.womenshealth.gov/faq/migraine.htm#c) Heading Off Migraine Pain (www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/1998/398_pain.html)

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