Stress And Heart Health: Protect Your Heart

We often think about heart disease in terms of cholesterol and high blood pressure, but stress plays a major role, too. The way we respond to stress every day affects more than our mood. It can affect heart rhythm, blood vessels and even body inflammation.

“Stress isn’t always a bad thing,” said Meera Mohan, NP-C, a nurse practitioner with Franciscan Health Heart Center, Dyer and Franciscan Physician Network Cardiology, Munster. “It becomes dangerous when it’s chronic and unmanaged.”

Learn how chronic stress influences your heart and what you can do to protect it.

Key Takeaways: Chronic Stress And Its Toll On The Heart

• The way we respond to daily stress affects more than our mood. It can affect our heart.
• Ongoing stress can cause inflammation in the body and raise the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
• Good heart care isn’t just about diet and exercise. It also means supporting your mental health and avoiding emotional stress that can affect your heart.

What Happens To The Heart Under Stress?

When you’re under stress, your body releases cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones trigger a fight-or-flight response. In small bursts, that’s helpful. But long-term exposure increases blood pressure, heart rate and inflammation. Each is a major risk factor for heart disease.

“People tend to underestimate stress and heart health,” Mohan said. “Chronic stress can affect blood clot formation and cause inflammation in the body, which increases your risk for heart attack or stroke.”

Over time, inflammation damages blood vessels and promotes plaque buildup in arteries. It’s the idea that inflammation “breeds blockages” in the cardiovascular system. The result is a clear chain reaction: Chronic stress → chronic inflammation → arterial blockages.

“Because our body releases hormones and activates our nervous system, we can experience symptoms like chest pain, body pains or palpitations, which is when our heart beats fast or skips a beat,” Mohan said. “We can also experience headaches, dizziness, fatigue and tiredness. We can have difficulty sleeping. So there’s a range of symptoms that stress can cause.”

Too much stress can interfere with sleep and lead to unhealthy habits like smoking, overeating or skipping medications. All of these factors raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.

And stress doesn’t just affect the heart directly.

“It can also affect our immune system,” Mohan said. “This causes a state of inflammation that can lead to more cholesterol deposited in our arteries. When all these downstream effects occur, it increases our risk for cardiovascular disease.”

Signs of unmanaged stress

Everyone responds to stress differently, but there are some clear warning signs to watch for:

• Changes in appetite
• Chest tightness or a racing heart
• Fatigue
• Headaches or body aches
• Irritability or feeling overwhelmed
• Trouble sleeping or staying asleep

“It’s important to listen to your body,” Mohan said. “Even symptoms like jaw pain or fatigue can be your heart’s signal that something’s off.”

If you have existing heart disease or risk factors like high blood pressure or diabetes, unmanaged stress may be especially harmful.

Stress and women’s heart health

While stress affects everyone, research suggests it may have a greater impact on women’s hearts. Women often carry more emotional labor, caregiving responsibilities and workplace stress. These factors can lead to chronic strain.

“In many cases, women take care of everyone else and put themselves last,” Mohan said. “We see heart symptoms go overlooked because women tend to dismiss them or chalk them up to stress or exhaustion.”

It’s important not to ignore symptoms, such as shortness of breath, chest pain or fatigue, especially if they get worse during emotional stress.

Simple Ways To Lower Stress

To manage stress, you don’t have to eliminate it completely. Instead, create space for rest and healthy coping strategies that support your physical health.

Small, sustainable practices can help you lower your stress, such as:

• Get enough sleep
• Practice deep breathing or guided meditation
• Say no to overcommitment
• See a therapist
• Spend time with friends or pets
• Take a walk in nature
• Write in a journal or pray

“Find the things that bring you peace,” Mohan said. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. Even 10 minutes of quiet or movement can help.”

A Heart-Healthy Lifestyle Includes Mental Health

Good heart care goes beyond diet and exercise. It also means you think about the link between your mental health and heart disease.

One way to do that is through mindfulness. This ancient practice has a simple concept: Being completely aware of what’s happening in the present moment. Focus on all that’s going on inside you and happening around you, instead of living your life on “autopilot.” Yes, it takes commitment and practice, but these easy tips can help you get started.

• Practice mindful eating. Be aware of flavors, taste and textures in each bite. Also, listen to your body when it says it’s hungry or full.
• Take deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose to a count of four. Hold for one second, then exhale through your mouth to a count of five. Repeat often.
• Take a walk. As you stroll, notice your breath and the sights and sounds around you. As thoughts and worries enter your mind, note them, but then return to the present.

Mohan advises patients to take a proactive approach: schedule regular checkups, ask questions and be honest about any mental health concerns. At Franciscan Health, our care teams work with patients to manage stress through primary care, heart care and behavioral health services.

When To Get Help

If you experience chest pain, fatigue or other heart symptoms, especially during stressful times, don’t ignore it. And if you already live with heart disease, stress management becomes even more important. Anxiety and depression are common in patients after a cardiac event.

A self-assessment is a helpful place to start. “A common self-assessment is the Perceived Stress Scale,” Mohan said. “This is a 10-question evaluation that measures how much stress you feel in your life. You can even find it online.”

She also recommends the DASS-21, which stands for the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. “This questionnaire can help screen for overlapping concerns that often go hand-in-hand with heart health,” she said.

Talk to your provider. You can request a heart risk assessment or a mental health consultation.

Franciscan Health offers complete heart care, including support for emotional and mental wellness. Schedule a heart checkup or talk with your primary care provider and start to manage your stress and heart health today.