Stop Stress before it Stops your Heart

We have all heard about stress from our friends, family and/or colleagues. Most likely, we have all experienced stress at some point of our lives due to many reasons be it personal or professional. Stress keeps us awake at night, not letting us enjoy the simple pleasures of life and often leaving us sad, miserable and angry with our loved ones.

Stress is so common in modern society that we have come to accept it as a sign of modernity and success. We may consider it a nuisance, but fail to realise that it is a silent killer.

My dear readers, YES, stress is often the hidden contributor for many cardiovascular diseases and deaths in the 21st century. Before we go any further we need to understand what stress is and why it has become so common now.

What is stress?

Stress can be described as any change which causes us any physical, emotional or psychological pain.

Why has it become so common nowadays?

The answer to this question is also quite simple. For all painful situations, our bodies create a fight or flight response through the secretions of hormones. However, our lives nowadays are much more complex and demanding than ever before. Most of our problems can be tackled with this fight or flight response and this inability to act makes us makes us stressful. Take this year 2020, for example; we have witnessed so many tragedies in the form of several months’ long lockdowns, job loss, financial crisis and loss of lives due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Wakashio oil spill or the wildfires happening ravaging our world. Our feelings of helplessness have been magnified several times over because for all of these disasters as we don’t have anyone to blame, thus we are not able to act on our fight or flight response and feel stressed.

Why is stress harmful for us?

In my fifteen years as a cardiologist I have found that most of the patients of uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes , heart attack, heart failure and even sudden death have had stressful life conditions before the onset of these diseases. Even vices like smoking, alcohol abuse, overeating, sedentary lifestyle get more prominent if we face stress. It is, therefore high time that we recognise ‘stress’ as a silent killer and stop it before it stops our heart.

Do not hesitate to visit a cardiologist if you are getting palpitation, undue fatigue, breathlessness, chest discomfort, high blood pressure as it may save your life.

How can we manage stress?

1. Acknowledge the source of your stress without feeling guilty

2. Avoid stressful situations as far as possible

3. Maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.

4. Develop new hobbies or restart old ones

5. Be active

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