by Nina
Fall Leaves by Charlotte Bell
Although the topic of chronic stress is one that I’ve been writing about since 2011, the first year we started this blog, I think this particularly challenging period right now—a worldwide pandemic combined with worldwide climate-driven problems—is a time when we should focus especially on managing chronic stress. While chronic stress is a natural response to the serious challenges of this period (see About Stress: Acute Versus Chronic for information about what chronic stress is), I think most of us want to stay physically and emotionally healthy enough not only to survive these times but to be strong enough to take actions to find solutions to the problems we’re all facing. So today I thought it would be a good time to remind you that two very serious dangers that can be caused by chronic stress—heart disease and strokes—and to provide you with information that can help you prevent these conditions from developing.
How Chronic Stress Causes Heart Disease and Strokes
These clinical data establish a connection between stress and cardiovascular disease, thus identifying chronic stress as a true risk factor for acute cardiovascular syndromes, which could, given the increasing number of individuals with chronic stress, be included in risk assessments of cardiovascular disease in daily clinical practice.” — Dr Ilze Bot, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden University
Of course many of us have already heard that chronic stress causes heart disease and strokes, but have you ever wondered why it does? Until I read this article Scientists finally discover how stress causes heart attacks and strokes, I never really thought about it. I think I just assumed chronic stress made your heart and cardiovascular system work harder so they wore out faster.
Reading that article led me to a different answer. In a study published in The Lancet Relation between resting amygdalar activity and cardiovascular events: a longitudinal and cohort study, researchers identified a specific mechanism that is contributing to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease (which includes both heart disease and strokes) in people who are experiencing chronic stress. It all has to do with the amygdala, a region in your brain that plays a primary role in your emotional reactions.When you are experiencing feelings of stress, your amygdala signals your bone marrow to temporarily produce more white blood cells (the cells in your body that fight infection and repair damage). Because you might be in a physically dangerous situation, the increase in white blood cells is intended to prepare you in case you suffer an injury of some kind. Obviously these extra white blood cells are not always needed but they will surely be useful in those acute stress situations when you actually might get injured, such as when you’re in a fight or car accident. And when your episode of acute stress is over, the production of white blood cells returns to normal levels.
However, when you are chronically stressed, the amygdala triggers the ongoing production of higher levels of white blood cells. The researchers concluded that this ongoing overproduction of white blood cells can form plaques in your arteries, which in turn lead to heart and other types of cardiovascular disease.
“In this first study to link regional brain activity to subsequent cardiovascular disease, amygdalar activity independently and robustly predicted cardiovascular disease events. Amygdalar activity is involved partly via a path that includes increased bone-marrow activity and arterial inflammation. These findings provide novel insights into the mechanism through which emotional stressors can lead to cardiovascular disease in human beings.” — Tawakol, et al
That’s one very solid explanation for why chronic stress is dangerous for your health!
Here’s a bit about the study. The researchers followed 293 Massachusetts General Hospital patients with a median age of 55 years who had no known cardiovascular diseases or active cancer. The patients were tracked for an average of 3.7 years to see if they developed cardiovascular disease. During that period, 22 of the subjects suffered from a “cardiovascular disease event.”
For all the subjects, the researchers assessed activity in both the amygdala and bone-marrow, as well as inflammation of the arteries. They also analyzed the relationship between “perceived stress,” activity of the amygdala, inflammation of the arteries, and C-reactive protein (which indicates the presence of inflammation in the body). They concluded that activity of the amygdala was associated with increased bone-marrow activity, inflammation of the arteries, and risk of cardiovascular disease events.
This evidence led the researchers to the conclusion that chronic stress is indeed a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and that reducing stress could provide benefits for physical as well as psychological health. As the lead author put it:
“This raises the possibility that reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological well-being.
“Eventually, chronic stress could be treated as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is routinely screened for and effectively managed like other major cardiovascular disease risk factors.” — Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital
I admit I was a bit baffled that “reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological well-being” is being proposed here as if it is a new idea, but, hey, who knows what kind of backgrounds those scientists have or what kind of careful language they feel they have to use.
Although the study itself does not discuss how stress can be “effectively managed,” I think you know at least one of the answers: yoga stress management techniques! Yes, using yoga for stress management can help you stay physically healthy as well as emotionally healthy. In addition, yoga has tools you can use specifically to promote heart and cardiovascular system health. I’ll provide links to the posts we have on stress management and heart/cardiovascular health separately below. I should also mention that the book I co-wrote with Dr. Baxter Bell, Yoga for Healthy Aging, which you can find through Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore, has a chapter on Heart and Cardiovascular System Health and another on Stress Management.
How Yoga Can Help with Chronic Stress
If you haven’t already been reading our various articles about using yoga for stress management, here are some articles to get you started. Some provide background so you can learn more about what chronic stress is and how to manage it and others provide techniques for how to practice yoga to manage your stress.
About Stress: Acute Versus Chronic
Life-Changer: Understanding Your Autonomic Nervous System
The Relaxation Response and Yoga
Coming into Balance: How Stress and Relaxation Work Together
Stress and Your Thought-Behavior Repertoire
Yoga for Pandemic-Related Chronic Stress
6 Ways to Bust Stress with Yoga
Stress Management for When You’re Stressed
Yoga: A Stress Buster for 2021
Changing the Brain’s Stressful Habits
Re-Patterning Your Nervous System
Using Stress Management Techniques for Medical Conditions
Other Ways Yoga Can Help Prevent Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Disease
We also have information specifically about using yoga to promote heart and cardiovascular health. Some of these posts provide background information but there are also two sequences designed by Baxter to help promote heart and cardiovascular system health and a “techniques” post that includes some general recommendations about how to practice.
About Yoga for Heart Health and Circulation
Techniques for Improving Cardiovascular and Heart Health
Featured Sequence: Dynamic Cardiovascular Health Practice
Featured Sequence: Inverted Heart Health Practice
Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) and Yoga: An Overview
Low Pressure Tactics: Using Yoga to Lower Blood Pressure
Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore.
Linking other relevant articles at the end of each post is very helpful. Thank you.