How Does Stress Even Work?

Everybody experiences and handles stress differently. Happy moments like a wedding, a job promotion, the birth of your child, can induce a stress response.

 Ill-fated moments like family problems, a serious sickness or the death of a loved one can also cause tension. How you react to these situations can have a lasting impact on your heart health.

While experiencing occasional stress is completely normal, many people suffer from chronic stress which is unhealthy and detrimental to the heart. Unmanaged chronic stress can lead to issues like heart disease, high blood pressure, chest pain or irregular heartbeats. Today I’ll share with you how stress can affect your heart and 6 simple ways to manage it.

How Will Stress Affect My Heart?

Frequent stress raises your blood sugar and pressure. These two are the most common contributors to heart disease. People who suffer from chronic stress may succumb to unhealthy coping mechanisms like binge eating, smoking, and laziness. These habits of a subpar lifestyle can cause irreversible damage to your cardiovascular system. If you want to learn how to relieve stress naturally(no medication), continue reading this article…

How Can I Safely Get Rid Of Stress?

Finding ways to relieve stress is critical to your overall health. Once your body is stressed it releases adrenaline, a hormone that temporarily causes your heart rate, breathing and blood pressure to rise. The rapid rise of adrenaline is known as the “fight or flight” response. Your body’s reaction to stress could be a headache, stomach pain, irritability, exhaustion, nausea, lack of energy. Chronic stress can last for days, weeks or even months and cause high blood pressure which increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. Fortunately, you can manage that in the following ways: 

• Get quality sleep –Aim for a minimum of 6 and up to 8 hours of quality sleep. Try to eliminate screen time for at least an hour before bed and sleep in a dark room to make it more peaceful.

• Exercise regularly –Physical activity forces your body and mind to work and feel great. Join a gym, take a yoga class or walk your dog after dinner to get at least thirty minutes of physical activity into your day. Look for some simple, no equipment needed workouts to do at home if joining the gym is not an option.

• Eat a well-balanced diet –Stress can lead to a poor diet. Emotional eating can have you reaching for processed sugary foods and beverages, which have no nutritional value (and can make you feel worse). Instead, try foods like eggs, avocado, bananas and walnuts which all help support a healthy lifestyle.

• Practice positive self-talk –How you talk to yourself matters. You spend every single waking second of your day with yourself - inside your head. Practice positive self-talk habits to develop a healthier outlook - mentally, emotionally and physically.

• Talk to friends and family –You don’t have to bring up your problems if you don’t want to. Spending quality time with a loved one works wonders when it comes to getting rid of stress

• Meditate – Empty your mind, take slow, deep breaths, and concentrate on the moment. Mindful meditation can help reduce tension and allow you to be more focused and aware.

While many suffer from stress and anxiety, it’s important to remember we are not alone in this and to maintain a healthy lifestyle and try to enjoy every second of every day to best protect our heart health. Another way to keep an eye on our cardiovascular system is scheduling regular check-up appointments with the cardiologist to be mindful of what’s going on.