Cardiologist Shares Stress Management Tips And Risk Factors For Women's Heart Health

The harmful impact of psychosocial stress on heart health is often overlooked. Psychosocial stressors are life events causing significant stress, such as family issues, divorce, the loss of a loved one, prolonged illness, or catastrophes like natural disasters.

Protecting your heart involves steering clear of both conventional and unconventional risk factors that contribute to heart disease, recognising symptoms, and pursuing treatment.

Research highlights that depression and psychosocial stress contribute to heart attacks. Additionally, elevated stress levels might hinder recovery post-heart attack.

It's crucial to consider both traditional and nontraditional heart disease risks, noting how they vary between men and women.

Stress may trigger unhealthy ways of coping with stress, such as stress-related eating or substance misuse, and avoiding physical activity, all of which can lead to heart disease.

Here’s an exclusive discussion with Dr Partho P Sengupta, head of cardiovascular medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and director of the cardiovascular service line at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rutgers Health:

How does stress affect heart health?

Besides traditional risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol, a range of non-traditional risks, including long-term stress, depression, anxiety, sleep issues (such as sleep apnea and insomnia), autoimmune diseases (like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus), environmental factors (like pollution and noise), and socioeconomic challenges like poverty and loneliness,s affect heart health.

Non-traditional risk factors often interact with conventional cardiovascular risks, intensifying their effect on heart health.

How can stress lead to heart attacks?

Extended stress from work, caregiving, financial stress, or trauma can significantly impact cardiovascular health.

Persistent stress prompts the body to produce extra cortisol and adrenaline, raising heart rate, blood pressure, and inflammation.

Over time, this contributes to endothelial dysfunction, a crucial stage in atherosclerosis (hardening or thickening of the arteries due to plaque in the artery's inner lining).

Women are more likely to suffer from psychosocial stress, depression, anxiety, and autoimmune diseases—all major, yet often neglected, factors contributing to heart disease.

Conditions specific to women, such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and early births, are now seen as early indicators of potential heart problems down the line.

Psychosocial stress can be either short-lived or prolonged, and both types have links to heart disease.

What are the heart disease risk factors for women?

All women need to be aware of heart disease. Those under 65, especially with a family history, must be mindful of these risk factors:

• Diabetes
• Mental stress and depression
• Smoking
• Physical inactivity
• Alcohol intake
• Menopause, due to reduced estrogen levels or premature menopause before 40
• Pregnancy-related issues, like high blood pressure or diabetes, or even premature delivery
• Autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus

How do heart disease symptoms differ in women and men?

While both women and men commonly encounter chest pain, pressure, or discomfort, women are more inclined to notice additional symptoms, including:

• Discomfort in the neck, jaw, shoulders, upper back or abdomen
• Shortness of breath
• Arm pain on either side
• Nausea or vomiting
• Sweating
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Extreme fatigue
• Women sometimes overlook heart disease symptoms

What are your recommended strategies for stress management?

To tackle non-traditional heart risk factors, a comprehensive plan addressing emotional, behavioural, and environmental wellness is necessary.

For stress and mental health, interventions like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness meditation, and regular exercise demonstrate high effectiveness.

Ensuring quality sleep through regular sleep routines, limiting screen use before bedtime, and treating sleep apnea are vital.

Fostering social connections via community groups, friendships, or therapy reduces isolation and bolsters emotional resilience.

For those with autoimmune or inflammatory conditions, timely medical care and anti-inflammatory diets (like the Mediterranean diet) can lower heart risks.

Minimising environmental pollutant exposure, such as using air purifiers and avoiding high-traffic areas during workouts, can be helpful. Emotional health strongly influences heart health.

Engaging in meaningful or connecting activities, like walking with a friend or pursuing daily goals, may reduce stress and encourage healthier habits.

Addressing emotional well-being is intrinsically linked to heart care; both are deeply connected. Following prescribed medical treatments is crucial in averting heart attacks or strokes.

If you're being treated for high blood pressure, high cholesterol or other risk factors, adhering to your medical provider's advice and tracking your progress is important to stay on top of these risks.

Note to readers: This content serves informational purposes and does not replace professional medical guidance. For inquiries regarding a medical condition, always consult your doctor.