Stress is inevitable, but healthy habits can keep you on track
The joy and rush of the holidays are here. Along with all the merrymaking, there can be long to-do and shopping lists, complicated family dynamics, and other stressors. Each can take a toll on your physical and mental health, including your heart health.
Being aware of stress’s effect on your heart can prevent you from becoming one of the season’s statistics. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US and worldwide, and “there’s a higher risk for heart attacks during the fall and winter months, which happens to coincide with the holidays,” says Jonathon Hanson, DO, a cardiologist with Bon Secours’s Upstate Cardiology.
“It’s hard to attribute what that might be from, but in the winter there’s less sun. There are higher rates of mental health disorders,” he adds, noting that studies show an association between people’s stress levels and their physical health “and that includes the risk for heart disease.”
That’s because stress releases cortisol and other hormones, causing your breathing and heart rate to speed up and your blood pressure to rise. They also affect two other key health components: the regulation of cholesterol and blood sugar.
“Everyone’s inevitably going to encounter some level of stress, so when you do, it’s important to respond in a healthy way,” Hanson said. That includes seeking support from your friends and family, looking for positive or even humorous aspects of the situation, and finding an outlet for your stress. “It might be exercising. It might be praying or meditating. Or it might just be doing things that you enjoy,” he adds.
Maintaining healthy habits, Hanson says, also will protect your heart from holiday stress and over-indulgence. Those habits include exercising for at least 30 minutes five days per week, getting regular sleep, eating a diet without trans fats and low in saturated fats to maintain a healthy weight, avoiding recreational drugs, and limiting alcohol. Nourishing your spiritual life and cultivating connections with your friends and family are important, too.
“If you incorporate those good habits and respond to stress in a healthy way, you’re going to live a longer, healthier life and be at a lower risk for heart problems,” Hanson says.
If you think you are having heart issues, it’s important to seek medical care. For more information on Bon Secours’s heart care and cardiology locations, visit bonsecours.com/locations/specialty-locations/heart-care-cardiology
Healthy holiday habits
- Exercise five days per week
- Get regular sleep
- Reduce trans fats and saturated fats
- Avoid recreational drugs
- Limit alcohol
- Cultivate connections
