It usually goes unnoticed, but heart disease is not only caused by lack of exercise, hereditary factors or a life with bad habits such as smoking or not taking care of your diet. There are many more factors that influence the state of the heart and the state of the mind is one of them. Having depression or some other mental illness can speed up the onset of heart disease or can slow down and make it more difficult to heal from a heart problem. In a world full of stress, with a lack of time to do regular physical exercise and to enjoy leisure activities, the relationship between mental illnesses and the heart is a highly relevant issue.
Heart disease has many connections to mental health. Living in a situation of permanent stress can cause an increase in blood pressure and can cause circulation problems. Stress acts differently in each person and that has a different influence on the cardiovascular system of each individual.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), several studies have shown that if stress causes irritation and attacks of anger in the patient, they are more likely to suffer from heart disease or even suffer a heart attack. APA data suggests that the way we respond to stress may be a greater risk for heart problems than smoking, having excess cholesterol, or high blood pressure. In the case of depression, at its most severe level, it increases the risk of having heart disease or worsening an existing heart problem.
APA research provides data and indicates that approximately 20 percent of people experience an episode of depression in their lives and this figure reaches up to 50 percent among patients with heart problems. Other long-term studies indicate that people with major depression are more than twice as likely to develop coronary artery disease or have a heart attack in the ten years after their first depressive episode. On the other hand, patients with heart problems are three times more likely to be depressed at some point than the rest of the population. According to data from the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), up to 65 percent of coronary patients with a history of heart attacks experience various forms of depression. One explanation is that people who live without major worries and define themselves as happy have healthy levels of fibrinogen and cortisol in their blood, which makes them stronger against heart pathologies.
It is advisable to have constant medical monitoring whether you have suffered from depression or heart disease and to adopt a series of healthy habits that help in recovery from both types of pathologies, always under medical supervision. It is highly recommended to exercise moderately and frequently, as well as follow a balanced diet.
We must be attentive to signs that may indicate both possible incipient depression and a possible heart problem and, if detected, seek medical help immediately. These are symptoms such as lack of appetite, feeling sad, lack of energy or loss of interest in activities that until now were common, in the case of depression, and feeling tired or pain in the chest in the case of something related to the heart. In parallel, it is very important to seek support from family and friends. It is also advisable to detect which factors specifically cause us stress in order to better combat them.
