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How stress causes acute illness Active stress reduction protects the heart
Enduring stress puts a strain on health and, according to health experts, can affect every organ in the human body. It can cause discomfort in the gastrointestinal area or cause skin problems. Most importantly, chronic stress poses a risk to cardiovascular disease. Targeted stress reduction can protect the heart.
Permanent stress endangers the health
Anyone who is constantly under stress, gets more sick. It is known, for example, that stress can lead to sleep disorders, gastrointestinal problems, increased susceptibility to infections, tinnitus or rash. Above all, however, chronic stress is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiac arrhythmia, and thus heart attack and stroke.
Permanent stress is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack. Stress reduction helps to protect the heart. (Image: pathdoc / fotolia.com) Experts give tips for dealing with stress
In order not to endanger the heart at all, those affected should consider a few important points in dealing with stress, which experts have now explained in the new guidebook "Mental and Social Stress", which is available from the German Heart Foundation.
"Constant stress, followed by no relaxation, makes you ill because many people through him easily get into behaviors that ruin the cardiovascular system: sufferers then often take the cigarettes, eat frustration unhealthy, become overweight or drink too much Alcohol and moving too little ", explained Prof. Dr. med. med. Karl-Heinz Ladwig from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Herzstiftung.
The Professor of Psychosomatic Medicine and Medical Psychology at the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Center Munich said: "Sleep deprivation is also a common problem. The result is hypertension, diabetes, CHD and arrhythmias. "
Adaptation reaction of the body
As the Heart Foundation writes in its communication, stress is not fundamentally bad. The human organism releases stress hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine), which accelerate the heartbeat, increase blood pressure, or stimulate respiration, for rapid reaction in stressful and dangerous situations. Stress is therefore the adaptation reaction of the body to the forces acting on it from its environment.
"Tension is part of life, but you must follow relaxation, otherwise the constant stress leads to exhaustion and immunodeficiency," says Prof. Ladwig. "Under chronic stress, we are more susceptible to infections and other diseases."
Healthier lifestyle with regular exercise
According to experts such as Prof. Ladwig, effective stress management in addition to changing the lifestyle through smoking abstinence, regular exercise, healthy diet, weight normalization and moderate alcohol consumption also include the inclusion of psychosocial problems of everyday life in the treatment.
"It is best to learn to deal with stress before high blood pressure or diabetes develop from chronic stress," says Prof. Ladwig. He recommends to look closely at one's own everyday life from a distance - as it were from a helicopter perspective - and to question alternatives that make relief possible.
No passive relaxation in front of the TV
And: "Endurance exercise is not only an excellent anti-stress agent, but has also proven itself as a sleep aid." Suitable for stress relief are also yoga or autogenic training. Even progressive muscle relaxation relieves stress. Relaxed drinking tea or barefoot running are also small exercises that can help against everyday stress.
When it comes to relaxation techniques, Prof. Ladwig sees advantages, especially when one has to concentrate on the breath and one's own body, because these moments lead away from the stress-inducing problems. He advises against television as a variant of passive relaxation. (Ad)