For example adrenaline prepares your body for a “fight or flight” response in dangerous situations, allowing you to react quickly by increasing your heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness, giving you a temporary boost of strength and energy to either confront a threat or escape from danger. It also helps you perform at your peak in stressful situations by enhancing focus and awareness while temporarily reducing pain perception.
When does stress become a problem
Stress becomes a problem when it lasts a long time, or if you feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with your situation. When your constantly releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol it can have a significant physical impact on the body, including increased blood pressure, elevated heart rate, muscle tension, digestive issues, weakened immune system, impaired cognitive function, weight gain, and increased risk of developing chronic diseases.
Stress can also have indirect effects on the heart. If you feel you can’t cope with chronic stress, you may cope by turn to unhealthy behaviours, such as unhealthy diet, smoking, and increased use of alcohol that can also lead to such health issues as high cholesterol and hypertension, which are primary risk factors for heart disease.
Not always obvious
“Stress is sometimes underrecognised as a risk factor for heart disease,” says Rachel Lampert, a Yale Medicine cardiologist. There are several pathways through which stress can lead to heart disease. “Long-term—or chronic—stress can cause higher levels of inflammation in the body that contribute to increases in plaque buildup in the arteries—and that can lead to such problems as coronary artery disease,” says Dr. Lampert. Coronary artery disease can lead to heart attack, abnormal heart rhythms, and heart failure.
Also, stress drives up adrenaline, causing the heart to beat faster and raises blood pressure. Too much of that, over time, can eventually damage the heart. For a person living with chronic stress, the result can be chest pain, irregular heartbeats, shortness of breath, and an increased risk of heart attack.
Short-term stress can have an impact as well. “For example, in people who already have a buildup of plaque in their arteries, the surge of adrenaline can sometimes contribute to a plaque rupturing, resulting in a blood clot that could grow large enough to block blood flow completely and cause a heart attack,” Dr. Lampert says.
When it comes to stress, everyone is different. Anyone concerned about their stress levels should talk about it with their primary care provider.
