The Connection Between Stress and Your Heart - and What You Can Do About It

Stress might feel impossible to avoid in today’s world. Between work, family, the news, and endless notifications from your phone, feelings of stress are completely understandable.

But what many people don’t realise is that stress doesn’t just affect you mentally - it affects you physically too. When you experience stress, your body releases hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones trigger the body’s fight or flight response, a natural reaction designed to help you handle this pressure.

However, when stress becomes long-term, your body remains in this heightened state for extended periods. This can lead to high blood pressure, an increased heart rate, and elevated levels of inflammation around the heart. Over time, these factors can increase the risk of heart disease and heart attacks, putting your heart at risk.

Now, that might make you even more stressed. Stressing about stress doesn’t help anyone, and it’s better to spend your time understanding how stress affects the body and, most importantly, learning how to manage it. Here’s how to do exactly that:

Recognising when stress may be affecting your heart

Everyone experiences stress differently.

Regardless of how you experience stress, there are a few warning signs that it might be taking a toll on your heart. These include:

• Fatigue
• Frequent headaches
• Chest discomfort
• A racing heartbeat
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Shortness of breath during mild activity
• Feeling anxious, irritable, or overwhelmed

If you’ve noticed any of these symptoms, you can’t afford to ignore them. These could be early indicators of a heart issue, and it’s worth seeking professional advice.

Managing stress for a healthier heart

The good news is that managing stress effectively can have a powerful impact on heart health. Here are some easy ways you can do that:

1. Stay active

Exercise helps lower stress hormones and improves cardiovascular fitness. Even a brisk 30-minute walk most days can make a difference. Ensure you choose an activity that you enjoy, as this will encourage you to continue with it. If jogging doesn’t sound fun – try dancing instead!

2. Prioritise sleep

You should try to aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. This means quality, uninterrupted sleep. Poor sleep increases stress levels and raises blood pressure, so getting an early night won’t just help your mood, it’ll help your heart too.

3. Practice relaxation

This might sound silly to begin with, but setting time aside for relaxation techniques is a great way to reset your mood and connect with your body. Mindfulness, meditation, or simple deep-breathing exercises are all great options to help calm your nervous system and reduce stress in your daily life.

4. Eat healthy

This is probably the most obvious point on this list, but it’s an important one. It may seem daunting to change your diet, but making small changes can have a significant impact. Most importantly, aim for a varied diet rich in fruits and vegetables, plus remember, portion control is key.

5. Talk

This one might seem a little out of place, but it’s just as important as the others. Speaking with friends, family, or even a trained counsellor can help relieve stress and anxiety. Opening up and talking honestly can feel like a weight off, so make sure you surround yourself with people you can do this with.

When to seek professional help

While this advice is all true, it’s important to remember that sometimes lifestyle changes are simply not enough. If you’ve found yourself at this stage, professional support is not just recommended, but necessary.

There are several ways in which a cardiologist can help you. They can perform diagnostic tests or recommend medications to help regulate your heartbeat, lower blood pressure, or cholesterol levels.  Everyone is different, so make sure to make an appointment.

However, not all new symptoms mean heart disease. Irregular heartbeats are a common condition and are often harmless. But if it's interfering with your quality of life, it can be addressed with treatments such as cardiac catheter ablation. This procedure involves threading a thin, flexible tube through a blood vessel to the heart, where targeted energy is used to destroy small areas of heart tissue that are causing abnormal electrical signals. By doing so, ablation can restore a normal heart rhythm, reduce symptoms like palpitations or dizziness, and improve overall quality of life. No matter your symptoms, a medical professional is sure to help!

Don’t worry, be happy.

Stress may be part of today’s world, but it doesn’t have to control your health. By taking these proactive steps to manage it, you can protect your heart for years to come.

Lifestyle changes can be hard, especially if you’ve spent years living a certain way. However, taking the steps to improve your quality of life and dedicate time to living healthily, it’s not just your heart that will thank you. You’ll feel the benefits throughout your body – and your brain too!

So, take this advice and get to it – your heart needs you!