Work strife stresses heart
In tough economic times, work stress might be hard to avoid. But for
people in stressful jobs, it’s especially important to take steps to
manage the stress in order to protect the heart.
That’s because stress not only has been shown to increase the risk of
a first heart attack, but also a second.
Avoid work stress |
“Work stress is bad for the heart, because it causes your body to be
in a state of high arousal all the time,” said Dr. Redford Williams,
Director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Duke University
Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
“There are a lot of physiological changes that go with this
heightened state a raise in blood pressure, increased adrenaline and
maybe inflammatory molecules, like CRP are elevated with chronic
stress,” he explained.
Dr. Matthew Lucks, a cardiologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La
Jolla, Calif., said that “stress does a lot of damage to the body.” As
stress quickly raises blood pressure, the amount of resistance in the
blood vessels goes up, he said, and this can cause an increase in the
atherosclerotic process, meaning the narrowing of blood vessels.
Information on the increased heart attack risk from workplace stress
came from a study of nearly 1,000 people, 35 to 59 years old, who
returned to work after a heart attack.
Two years later, those who were in jobs with the highest stress
levels stemming from high demands but low ability for the worker to
control the situation or effect change had more than double the risk of
a recurrent heart attack than people who had the lowest levels of
workplace stress. The study was published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association.
Lucks pointed out that other research has suggested that a stressful
work environment causes a higher risk of heart attack, because it causes
people to increase unhealthy behaviours, such as smoking more, drinking
more alcohol and exercising less.
Whatever the exact cause, Williams said, it’s clear that “people
under stress are at high risk for developing heart disease.” And,
researchers aren’t clear just what role stress management techniques
might have.
Both Lucks and Williams recommended exercising, because it helps to
reduce stress and anxiety levels and improves cardiovascular health.
Lucks said that some of his patients try various techniques, such as tai
chi, meditation, biofeedback and relaxation exercises, though he said he
did not know if the techniques were effective.
Williams and his wife, Virginia, developed their own stress
management program, called Williams Life Skills, that teaches people the
steps they can take to better control stress.
He said they teach people to analyze each situation to see if it’s
something they can change, if it’s something they should change or if
it’s something that cannot be changed. For situations that can’t be
changed, people learn how to calm themselves down using meditation,
exercise and relaxation,” he said.
HealthDay News
|