Welcome to Thursday! If you have been reading along then you know I have been talking about Stress the whole month of April. There are still 8 more days in April, which means you can still grab one of my free coaching sessions related to Stress. Last week I discussed how Stress affects your kidneys. Today, I am going to discuss how Stress affects your heart.
Stress is a silent and insidious killer. What do I mean by that. I mean the affects of Stress can go unnoticed or taken as something else and it the results can be slow. I already discussed some of the effects caused by Stress such as increased heart rate, faster breathing, and higher blood pressure. But, what do these symptoms do to your heart?
Long term Stress and Anxiety can increase your risk of getting Heart Disease. Stress, by increasing Cortisol is meant to help us deal with fear, but when that fear response is chronic Stress and Anxiety can be the result. Stress also can increase your Cholesterol and even blood sugar levels in the blood. If Stress goes untreated the heart can start to show signs of chronic Stress such as lower oxygen to the heart, decreased blood flow to the heart, increased risk of clots.
Some signs that you may be too stressed are lack of good sleep, aches and pains, decreased energy, moodiness, impatience, memory issues or forgetfulness, inability to concentrate, headaches, stomach upset, and possibly others.
Below you will find a few good videos that explains how Stress can affect your heart. If you would like to learn to manage your Stress to decrease your risk of Heart Disease, click here, or use the contact information at the end of this post to message me about my Health Coaching options.
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