Five-Minute Stress Relief.com

Stress, the Heart and Mental Health

Anger Causes Atherosclerosis to Speed Up

Research following 150 people with artery disease has found that atherosclerosis, the accumulation of plaque in the arteries that can trigger a heart attack, progresses more rapidly in patients who express a lot of anger than in those who have a weak social support system. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, followed subjects for two years and used angiography to measure the extent of atherosclerosis, along with questionnaires gauging their levels of social support, anger and hostility.

Anger Increases Heart Disease Risk

In a study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, have found that people who react in anger frequently have a higher risk of coronary disease. In addition, the study’s authors conclude that their results imply that people with this emotional personality trait (susceptibility to frequent anger) can be at high risk for heart disease, the number one killer in America, as much as those with high blood pressure.

In another four-year study, published by Heart Online (British Cardiovascular Society), following 227 subjects with heart disease found that men with high emotional hostility had higher BMI (body mass), total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio than men with lower hostility. On the other hand, high emotional hostility levels in women resulted in a marked increase of type 2 diabetes!

Even Mild Stress Can Raise Blood Pressure

Recent research published in the journal Hypertension has shown that even mild levels of stress can raise blood pressure and interfere with the cardiovascular system's ability to regulate itself. Researchers were able to identify these changes my monitoring students on both exam days and then on vacation days.

The scientists used a technique called autonomic assessment, which measures changes in the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates blood pressure, rhythm of the heart and other important bodily functions.

To verify that students were experiencing stress on exam days, the researchers administered questionnaires, saliva levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and saliva levels of cytokines – proteins the immune system releases when the body is stressed. Their tests confirmed that they were experiencing stress responses.

In addition, the scientists checked other autonomic factors, such as cardiovascular variability (an indicator of the ability of the heart to handle stress), which was measured by computerized analysis of beat-by-beat heart rate variability on an electrocardiogram. These factors also confirmed that the student's stress levels were elevated on exam days, but not on vacation days.

Mothers Under Stress Are at Risk of Poor Mental Health

A new study done at UCLA has revealed that women with young children who feel stressed (because of lack emotional support or help in childcare) have been found to be at three times the risk for mental health problems as compared with other women their age.

In their study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers surveyed 1,747 mothers, with one-third reporting parental stress factors that increased their mental health risks. Besides concern for the mothers, mental health problems have a pronounced effect on a child's health and development. While mothers who described their situation with one parental stress factors were three times at risk, those with two or more stress factors increased risk nearly 12-fold.

© 2009 Five-Minute Stress Relief - All Rights Reserved

Sources: Triggering of Acute Myocardial Infarction Onset by Episodes of Anger Circulation 1995 Oct 1;92(7):1720-5 Parenting-Related Stressors and Self-Reported Mental Health of Mothers With Young Children American Journal of Public Health July 2007, Vol 97, No. 7 1261-1268 Hostility, Anger and Depression Predict Increases in C3 over a 10-Year Period Brain, Behavior, Immunology 2007 August; 21(6): 816–823 Psychological Distress as a Risk Factor for Coronary Heart Disease International Journal of Epidemiology 2002 Feb;31(1):248-55

Print PDF Page for: Stress - the Heart and Mental Health