Have you ever wondered why your heart beats rapidly when reacting to stress and fear and how it could negatively affect your cardiovascular health? It is important to understand how these emotions affect your body.

Stress:

Stress - A response to physical, mental, or emotional pressure from actions and challenges in life

Effects on the heart:

• Stress triggers the sympathetic nervous system, the flight-or-fight response, which sends signals to the heart to beat faster and constrict the arteries. This leads to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure

• Elevated levels of cortisol and adrenaline over time increases blood sugar and cholesterol, which can damage the blood vessels

• Chronic stress can cause inflammation in arteries, which leads to plaque buildup

• Prolonged stress can increase the risk of hypertension, coronary artery diseases (CAD), and heart attacks

Stress can indirectly cause cardiovascular diseases (CVDs): it causes someone to develop unhealthy habits like overeating, smoking, poor sleep.

Fear:

Fear - an emotional response to something dangerous, could be long-term like PTSD or from traumas like accidents, assaults, etc.

Effects on the heart:

• Fear can trigger a sudden increase in adrenaline, which would cause rapid heart rate, strong heart contractions, and spikes in blood pressure. This can lead to heart attacks, especially in people with excessive plaque buildup

• Long-term fear like PTSD causes the nervous system to always be alerted, causing chronic stress on the heart and increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes

• Fear can cause arrhythmias, which could be life-threatening for some people

Takeaways:

• Both stress and fear can harm the heart

• Prolonged stress can damage the arteries over time

• Fear can cause sudden spikes in heart activity, which causes the heart to be overworked

This is why it is also important to manage your mental health through therapy, healthy habits, and stress relievers to prevent the risk of CVDs. 

The Effects of Stress and Fear on the Heart

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