Heart Conditions & Stress
...sical or psychological effects a person experiences. (Taber 1639) Stress is known to cause severe depression and, especially in this case, effects on the heart. It is most commonly related to the feelings of fear, anxiety, and happiness. Moderated stressful situations are essential to living a healthy lifestyle, however. It’s too much stress that leads to troublesome effects. Causes of Stress Stress can be caused by any number of things. Mainly, it’s caused by three of the most intense feelings possible to humans: fear, anxiety, and anger. However, happiness and other forms of elation can also bring it about. (Hart) Fear involved with stress brings about a quick jolt of epinephrine released into the veins. For example, a horror movie with a jump scene (the scenes in which loud music and a “pop out” play simultaneously on-screen) would Burns 3 cause a person’s entire body to suddenly be surged by the adrenaline rush. (Cardinal) Anger brings about the same effect, though not always as intense and quick. Anxiety is a slower and more drawn out release of epinephrine, making the experience of stress longer. Long periods of stress can lead to depression. (Hart) Depression is “[the] loss of interest in all usually pleasurable outlets such as food, sex, work, friends, hobbies, or entertainment.” (Taber 441) Grief is also another form of stress that may or may not lead to depression. Grief can brought about by some unhappy event such as death of a loved one. (Karpman 62) Though grief can be healthy in the form of mourning, depression is not and is considered a clinical disease that must be treated through therapy or medication. Long periods of stress place a severe strain on every activity you can possibly perform. Stress is not always caused, however, by a voluntary action. There are several disorders and medical conditions that can cause stress. These several include anxiety disorders, heart disorders, and overactive thyroids. (Hart) Anxiety disorders are where phobias such as fear of the dark and of small spaces originate. Frequent panic and OCD are common forms of anxiety disorders. (Taber 112) Any significant negative effect on the heart is known as a heart disorder. (Lam) Due to a previous heart attack, one may be fearful that it may reoccur. This fear can lead to unexpected release of epinephrine, causing stress to begin. An overactive thyroid is “a condition caused by excessive secretion of the thyroid glands, which increases the basal metabolic rate, causing an increased demand for food to support this metabolic activity.” (Taber 804) Overeating and a slow metabolism lead to weight gain. The overactive thyroid causes the stress occurring through fear of obesity. Burns 4 Yet another cause of stress is the factor of occupation. With the millions of people in this world that work on a day-to-day basis, there are bound to be a few jobs out there that cause intense amounts of stress. A few of the most difficult jobs stress-wise (as stated in Karpman’s “Preventing Silent Heart Disease”) are as follows: 1) Inner city high school teacher; 2) Police officer/Firefighter; 3) Miner; 4) Air traffic controller; 5) Medical intern; 6) Stockbroker; 7) Journalist; 8) Customer service (complaint department); 9) Waiter/Waitress; 10) Secretary. (Karpman 59) All of these jobs contain the common issue of either chronic physical exertion and/or long hours. Both of these issues contain the setback of severe stress. Effects of Stress With every cause comes an effect, and stress is no exception to that rule. There are two different categories of effects. The first of them are heart related effects. Rapid palpitations, irregular heart rate, and high blood pressure are just a few of those effects. (Karpman 59) Palpitations of the heart are, very literally, flutters of the heart. When someone comes in contact with an event that would cause a rush of epinephrine, rapid palpitations will occur. This is nearly the same as an irregular heart rate. The occurrence of an irregular heart rate suggests that a subject has been submitted to a cardiovascular stimulating activity. Stress or...