How Anxiety Affects the Heart
Most of us understand that anxiety is a mental health condition. Unfortunately, that’s not really where it stops. Anxiety isn’t just a mental health disorder — it’s something that can wreak havoc on your entire life, including your physical well-being.
Anxiety causes a lot of stress on the body. When you’re experiencing an anxiety attack, you might start to sweat, or your breathing will become more labored and rapid.
It can also lead to more long-term issues like headaches, muscle pain, and digestive problems.
But one of the most concerning ways anxiety impacts the body is how it affects the heart. If you struggle with anxious thoughts, understanding the toll it could be taking on your heart health is essential.
So, what kind of damage can anxiety do to your cardiovascular health?
Rapid Heart Rate
One of the most common signs of anxiety is a racing heart. Every time an anxious thought is able to creep in, it can elevate your heart rate, and that’s hard to ignore.
A rapid heart rate due to anxiety is your body’s way of going into fight or flight mode. It’s preparing itself for a potential threat, even if there really isn’t one. Unfortunately, the more often you experience a rapidly beating heart, the more likely it is that you’ll disrupt your normal heart function. This can lead to a serious cardiac event. Some studies have even linked anxiety to an increased risk of heart failure, stroke, and diabetes.
Chest Pain
Experiencing chest pain is scary. Your mind might immediately tell you that you’re having a heart attack. In some cases, unfortunately, that could be the case.
But anxiety can often be the cause of that pain, creating symptoms that feel similar to a heart attack, along with sweating and labored breathing.
Anxiety also tends to cause a rush of adrenaline throughout the body. Again, this stems from your natural fight-or-flight response. While that adrenaline is designed to protect you, it can narrow the arteries attached to your heart. If this happens, it can also feel like you’re having a heart attack. This is known as stress cardiomyopathy.
While the effects of stress cardiomyopathy usually heal on their own over time, even one occurrence of it can weaken your heart muscles.
High Blood Pressure
Millions of people deal with high blood pressure for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, anxiety is becoming an increasing factor. Chronic anxiety releases stress hormones into the body which not only increases your heart rate, but narrows your blood vessels. The result is often higher blood pressure, which can eventually lead to heart failure.
Thankfully, blood pressure can typically be managed with medication, but getting to the root of the problem is often the best way to fight back against the physical problem.
What Can You Do?
Speaking of addressing the root of the issue, the first thing you should do is take a breath. Learning how anxiety impacts the heart can, ironically enough, cause more anxiety. If you’ve been struggling with anxious thoughts for a while, it’s never too early or too late to get the help you deserve.
One of the best ways to combat anxiety is by working with a therapist. Anxiety counseling will help you get to the root cause of your anxious thoughts. You can work from the ground up to better understand and eventually overcome your anxiety, while learning healthy symptom management techniques along the way.
Don’t let anxiety take a toll on your physical health. Contact me for more information, or to set up a consultation.
