Healing Body, Mind, Spirit
The reason why stress causes heart attacks and strokes may finally have been discovered by scientists, leading to hopes that it could be prevented.
For years experts have puzzled as to how chronic anxiety leads to heart problems.
But now scientists have found that people who have heightened activity in a part of the brain linked to stress – the amygdala – are more likely to develop cardiovascular events.
Millions of Britons are increasing their risk of heart attacks by eating dinner after 7pm, experts have warned. Researchers assessed more than 700 adults with high blood pressure, to see what difference their diet and eating times made to their health. The study examined the types of foods eaten, amount of salt consumed, whether breakfast was eaten … Read more
Scientists said Sunday they may have unravelled how chronic stress leads to heart attack and stroke: triggering overproduction of disease-fighting white blood cells which can be harmful in excess.
Surplus cells clump together on the inner walls of arteries, restricting blood flow and encouraging the formation of clots that block circulation or break off and travel to another part of the body.
White blood cells “are important to fight infection and healing, but if you have too many of them, or they are in the wrong place, they can be harmful,” said study co-author Matthias Nahrendorf of the Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Doctors have long known that chronic stress leads to cardiovascular disease, but have not understood the mechanism.
The risk of a heart attack or stroke is cut by a fifth in those who have no sign of heart disease, shows research by scientists at Oxford University. Treatment guidelines should be reviewed in light of the findings, the experts said, and the NHS should impose a blanket policy of prescribing up to 20 … Read more