One of the most common questions asked with reference to anxiety and stress is whether or not these conditions cause heart disease.
Panic attacks usually involve sudden development of emotions such as anxiety, fear or extreme feeling of discomfort. These emotions are followed by some additional symptoms.
Panic attacks have always been associated to cardiovascular risks such as anger, depression and even hostility. Hypertension is yet another symptom associated to panic attacks. Anxiety or stress is known to add up to adverse effects of cardiovascular problems including enhanced blood clotting tendency, coronary artery spasm or heart rhythm disturbances.
Does stress actually increases the risk of heart attack?
According to a recent research it has been indicated that people with stress or panic disorders tend to possess a more active coagulation System and inhibited fibrinolysis. The result was not expected as there was no injury other than some breaks in the skin occurred due to blood sampling.
This clearly indicates that the clotting was unbalanced. This can be quite dangerous because a coronary artery may get blocked in extreme cases. However, the levels of coagulation measured were just within the range considered normal.
This research came up with an explanation of a data displaying. People with stress or panic disorder being four times more prone to die of a heart attack or stroke. Hence, when there are several other factors including smoking or obesity to enhance the risk of heart disease, a stress disorder can enhance the balance of coagulation further to danger zone.
It is very important to diagnose stress or anxiety disorder as soon as possible. Treatment given at an early stage tends to inhibit the chances of any kind of heart disease.
Anxiety or stress is also known to make a patient get a feeling like heart attack due to rapid pulse and shortness of breath. According to a study of more than three thousand older women, it is suggested that shortness of breath or rapid pulse experienced due to stress may evoke a feeling similar to heart attack and even result in serious heart troubles in the long run.
Studies have also revealed that women who have experienced a full blown panic or stress attack in 6 months were more vulnerable to stroke or heart attack as compared to those who didn´t experienced stress or panic attack.
The researchers also considered a lot of other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, depression and in activity. However, they still came to a conclusion that stress and panic attack enhanced risks of heart related disease.
Women undergoing symptoms of post menopause tend to take a lot of stress and this is known to be one of the major causes of cardiovascular risk. Mental stress is always bad for health and may result in a lot of adverse effects.
A lot of scientific evidences have suggested that metal stress tend to affect the cardiovascular System adversely. Tasks promoting stress can result in blood flow decrease to the heart that ultimately result in a lot of heart related diseases such as a heart attack.
by: Bertil Hjer
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