Stress is part of being an adult with unexpected bills piling now and then, family troubles arising when least expected, car battery dying when the bank account is on edge. How do you manage stress after all these? Do you keep calm and handle your stress or do you overreact and start putting it on everyone around you? Either way, everyone reacts to stress differently. It is essential for you to know how you react when faced with stressful situations.
When stress gets excessive, past an absolute limit, it can contribute to a pile of health problems ranging from hypertension, asthma, ulcers, high blood pressure and irritable bowel syndrome among other illnesses.
More research is required to prove how stress is directly linked to heart disease which is a menace in the current generation. Stress leads to the rise of specific behaviors and conditions that increase the risk on one getting a heart disease. High cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and overeating. In fact, most people turn to drinking too much alcohol and smoking too many cigarettes to manage chronic stress; this habits gradually lead to the increase in blood pressure and may lead to the damage artery walls eventually slowing down the blood being transported to the heart leading to heart malfunctions.
Your body’s retort to stress may be a back strain, stomach pains, and migraines. Stress can make you feel out of control, and at times you become forgetful while loosing out on sleep. A stressful situation sets off a pattern of events with adrenaline setting the pace. Adrenaline is a secretion that makes your heart beat and breathing rate to speed up and your blood pressure to rise temporarily. It usually arises when one is in trouble preparing you for a fight or flight response.
Cardiologists have come up with another theory that studies the amygdala, which is a small, almond-shaped area deep inside the brain. The amygdala processes intense emotions such as fear, stress, and anxiety. In recent reports, studies reveal how heightened activity in the amygdala may trigger a pattern of events that raises heart attack risk. It identified a mechanism that linked stress, artery inflammation and heightened chances of a heart attack. A test on an animal had shown that stress activates bone marrow that makes white blood cells. These cells that essential in fighting infections, trigger inflammation, that gradually encourages the build-up of fatty plaques inside the artery walls. So does this happen in humans? With follow-ups on various patients that have undergone specific imaging tests mostly on cancer screening showed non-active cancer or heart diseases at the time. However, in two years some of the patients experienced cardiovascular issues such as angina, stroke and heart attacks. Increased activity of the amygdala is linked to an immense level of perceived stress and heart attacks.
When stress is consistent, your body remains unstable for days or weeks depending on how you manage it. The instability causes tension, such that none of your body systems functions appropriately including the heart always racing. Some people tend to overeat when stressed and ideally the food is composed of junk that could build up cholesterol levels. With high cholesterol levels comes the inability of the blood to flow correctly in the veins and arteries leading blood in and out of the heart. If the condition isn’t rectified, it leads to heart attacks that come unexpectedly; very fatal.
Proper stress management is the first step to ensuring that you are safe from heart diseases and any other diseases that may arise. Therapies recommended by doctors work well in reducing the effects of stress on cardiovascular diseases. If you realize you are sinking too deep into anxiety, make it a habit of talking to a professional therapist who will help you manage it and get back you on track. Pilling up your stress issues never saved anyone, keep calm and figure a way out of the situation. Hypertension research shows that exercising, avoiding smoking and taking too much alcohol, maintaining a positive attitude, eating healthy diets and maintaining healthy weights are good ways to deal with stress which eventually reduce risks of contracting hypertension.
Meditating is a habit of inwardly focused thought, and deep breathing has been shown to contribute to reduced risk of contracting heart diseases. Philanthropists say that what is stressing you currently will not even matter in the next five years. So why die over it? You could join yoga classes that will help you relieve stress. You could also unplug your life temporarily by cutting ties, avoiding news and emails perhaps take a vacation or an indoor holiday and relax. Find more helpful ways to stress relief like listening to music, taking a walk, reading a book, taking a bubble bath, cooking; manage the stress before it strangles you.
