Is Stress Pressuring on Your Heart?
Written By Katie OldhamIt’s easy for us to set aside the notion of how stress affects our hearts. We can’t see our heart. We cannot feel it most of the time. And in the midst of a stressful situation we don’t consider how our ‘feelings’ influence our heart. So, we ignore the issue all together.
Maybe just for today, you can stop to consider how stress puts pressure on your heart. You see, there is no argument amongst experts about whether or not psychological and emotional stress impacts our hearts health. It does. There is, though, a lack of clarity about exactly HOW stress influences the health of our heart. This recent Web MD article clarifies:
‘Medical researchers aren’t sure exactly how stress increases the risk of heart disease. Stress itself might be a risk factor, or it could be that high levels of stress make other risk factors (such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure) worse. For example, if you are under stress, your blood pressure goes up, you may overeat, you may exercise less, and you may be more likely to smoke.
If stress itself is a risk factor for heart disease, it could be because chronic stress exposes your body to unhealthy, persistently elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Studies also link stress to changes in the way blood clots, which increases the risk of heart attack.’
Clearly, research is still needed in this area. But isn’t the bottom line the same? That we know unequivocally that stress impacts our hearts in a negative way. Therefore, we need to consider how to handle the stress in our lives when we think about our heart and entire body’s health.
Some stress is okay… good, in fact. We all have general , every day stressors: work, home, relationships, kids, keeping schedules and simply functioning to keep up with our own lives. But maybe you’ve been hit by some of the big ones: the death of a loved one, a divorce, loss of a job, legal problems, etc. Maybe some of your stress resides in your personality characteristics. Perhaps you are a perfectionist. Maybe you worry too much about other peoples’ problems. No matter how you categorize your stress, I encourage you to give this area of your personal wellness some attention…TODAY.
When I work with my wellness coaching clients, things can be going along just fine as we discuss lifestyle changes, nutrition, fitness, and how to manage it all. But, when I start to drive right into the root of their barriers, often involving their real, elephant-in-the-room stressors, my poor Ladies seem to crumble. Are we really walking around so tightly wound, avoiding dealing with our life challenges to such an extent that we just fall apart when we are faced head on with it? Sure, maybe we are aware that we feel stressed but most of the time don’t we just push through and keep going at the same rate?
Maybe that’s what we need; we need to fess up and face our real life stressors. Not just the obvious ones that get us frazzled by the end of the day. But those deeply rooted ones that have built up pounds of stress and result in pressure on our poor, sweet hearts!
Remember, stress is OKAY! We all experience it. It is when we don’t deal with it, we fail to find coping skills and mechanisms or when we bury it that our bodies pay the price.
So, get started!
Step 1: Define your stressors. What are they anyways!? What in your life needs some relief? I suggest writing them down. Why not? They will change over time. But, I always find that writing brings more reality and awareness to a topic.
Step 2: Reflect on what you can do or already do to lessen the impact of your stress on your body. We cannot make stress go away. Well, let me rephrase, there are some things we can do to choose what we expose ourselves to but for the unavoidable, we need to think about what we can do to COUNTER the effects of stress. If your bad, built up stress can build a case against your heart’s health than YOU can protect it!
Step 3: Execute an action plan. What do you commit to doing to help reduce the effects of your stress on your heart? There are multitudes of coping skills and stress relieving activities to choose from. Some conventional, some proven by research (exercise, deep breathing, yoga, meditation, prayer are some examples) and some that are your very own. Again, write down the possibilities and start DOING even just one.
I have my bag of stress relieving tricks: yoga, exercise, fresh air, journaling, devotions, getting out for a couple of hours of non-work or toddler related activity. It takes lots of practice to pull the tricks out because sometimes when we really need them is when our humanity refuses to cope! But, with consistency and more awareness you can gradually improve the actual health of your heart.
Amazing , isn’t it!? So start doing what feels good emotionally and your heart will reap with rewards!
From my Heart to Yours,
Katie
