• 1Manage Your Stress (VIDEO)
  • 2What Is Stress?
  • 3Fight Or Flight
  • 4Stress vs. Rest
  • 5The Stress Response
  • 6Stressed Out! Signs & Symptoms
  • 7Chronic Stress
  • 8Stress Takes a Toll
  • 9Stress Harms the Heart & Blood Vessels
  • 10Stress & The Growing Brain
  • 11Stress Harms the Brain & Nerves
  • 12Stress Harms the Immune System
  • 13Stress Causes Psychological Problems
  • 14Stress & Epigenetics
  • 15Your Genes Are Affected by Stress
  • 16Inheriting Stress
  • 17Stress & Aging
  • 18Stress Makes You Age Faster
  • 19How Stressed Out Are You?
  • 20Coping with Stress
  • 21Beat Stress with Friendship & Community
  • 22Beat Stress with Healthier Foods
  • 23Beat Stress with Better Sleep Habits
  • 24Beat Stress with Exercise
  • 25Meditation
  • 26Beat Stress with Mindful Awareness
CHAPTER 9

Stress Harms the Heart & Blood Vessels

PART 1

The Heart

It Adds Up
616,000 - Number of people...
Stress creates an increased demand for oxygen throughout the body. In times of stress, your blood vessels are dilated, you breathe more rapidly and your body is ready to run. This means your heart must work harder, beating faster to speed oxygen rich blood to the extremities. Your heart, as you know, is a muscle. This is some workout! The cardiac muscle gets larger, but it does not work as efficiently. Stress can also contribute to irregularities in the electrical impulses that accompany each heartbeat. These complications create a greater risk of heart abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, and heart attack in people with chronic stress.
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PART 2

The Vessels

Because the heart is working so hard to pump sufficient blood through the body during stress, coronary blood vessels can spasm as a result of the strain. Also, any long-term elevation in blood pressure increases the risk of all kinds of heart disease, as well as strokes. If the heart cannot pump hard enough to deliver oxygenated blood to all of your extremities, tissues may have too little oxygen to thrive or repair cells.The kidneys are one example of an organ in which lack of sufficient oxygenated blood can cause inefficient function and complications. The stress hormone cortisol complicates matters (once again!) by interfering in tissue repair.
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