Tag: heart disease and chronic stress

Four ingredients in the heart patient’s recipe for stress

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 8 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

While what stresses you is different from what stresses your neighbour, the recipe for stress is universal. So are the four ingredients in this recipe, according to the Centre for Studies on Human Stress at the University of Montréal.

This Centre, by the way, is a remarkably helpful resource if you’re one of those people who have become so chronically stressed day to day that you no longer think this state of being is even abnormal anymore.

Your body’s natural response to psychological stressors – the release of stress hormones – can lead to poor health outcomes if it becomes chronic.

It struck me that the Centre’s list of four ingredients that reliably elicit this stress response are also those that make a heart disease diagnosis itself so continually stressful.  They include:   Continue reading “Four ingredients in the heart patient’s recipe for stress” →

Got a minute? Try this mini-relaxation exercise for your heart health

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

You’re waiting nervously in the dentist’s chair, or white-knuckling a bout of aircraft turbulence, or getting ready to deliver that big presentation at work – or even just wondering how you’ll remain sane given all you need to do between now and Christmas! – and you can already feel the stress tightening its death grip on your whole body, thus increasing the levels of stress hormones that are now coursing through your bloodstream. Not good for your heart!

Instead of tensing up, practise three mini-relaxation techniques, courtesy of Harvard University Medical School’s newsletter Healthbeat, so that you’ll be ready to try them even when time is tight.

When you have only 1 minute:

  •  Place your hand just beneath your navel so you can feel the gentle rise and fall of your belly as you breathe. Breathe in slowly. Pause for a count of three. Breathe out. Pause for a count of three. Continue to breathe deeply for one minute, pausing for a count of three after each inhalation and exhalation.

When you have only 2 minutes:

  • Count down slowly from 10 to zero. With each number, take one complete breath, inhaling and exhaling. For example, breathe in deeply saying “10” to yourself. Breathe out slowly. On your next breath, say “nine,” and so on. If you feel lightheaded, count down more slowly to space your breaths further apart. When you reach zero, you should feel more relaxed. If not, go through the exercise again.

When you have only 3 minutes:

  •  While sitting down, take a break from whatever you’re doing and check your body for tension. Relax your facial muscles and allow your jaw to fall open slightly. Let your shoulders drop. Let your arms fall to your sides. Allow your hands to loosen so that there are spaces between your fingers. Uncross your legs or ankles. Feel your thighs sink into your chair, letting your legs fall comfortably apart. Feel your shins and calves become heavier and your feet grow roots into the floor. Now breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly. Each time you breathe out, try to relax even more.

 

See also:   McGill University’s Centre for Studies on Human Stress for several tools to help cope with chronic stress.

♥

NOTE from CAROLYN:   I wrote more about how chronic stress affects your heart in my book, A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease.  You can ask for it at your local library or bookshop, or order it online (paperback, hardcover or e-book) at Amazon – or order it directly from my publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press (use their code HTWN to save 30% off the list price).

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Q: What has helped you cope with daily stress? 

In praise of slowness: how ‘la dolce vita’ can help our heart health

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

slowness coverby Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

When I worked in corporate PR, I was on a plane at least two mornings most weeks, flying off to Very Important Meetings with Very Important People to discuss my Very Important Projects. At the airport book store one day, I picked up what I thought would be just the perfect thing for somebody as busy as I was:  one of those ‘Ten Best Business Books Condensed on Tape’. What a great idea! I could save time while cramming all this Important Business Savvy into my overstuffed brain while driving to the airport and back each week!  But something hit me, somewhere between Total Quality Management and Seven Habits:

“This is exactly what’s wrong with my life!” 

I realized that I was so busy that I no longer felt able to enjoy settling in with a good book anymore. Even reading – my great love – had turned into just another item on an overloaded To Do list.

I was a heart attack waiting to happen.  Continue reading “In praise of slowness: how ‘la dolce vita’ can help our heart health” →

Poor marriage = poor heart health for women

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥  @HeartSisters

Did you know that men who are married – happily or not – are generally far healthier than their unmarried buddies?  A man’s physical health apparently benefits simply from the state of being married, whether or not he rates it as a good marriage.

But a woman’s overall health can be significantly threatened by trouble at home, according to researchers at the University of Utah.(1)  Women respond to unhappy marriages by being three times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome – a cluster of serious cardiac risk factors that can lead to heart disease.   click here to continue reading