Calm Your Nerves: How Stress Affects Your Heart
Project: “Heart, You’re Simply Cosmic!”
Recently, doctors and scientists have increasingly found connections between cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders. To understand how our mental issues impact our hearts and what to do about it, our magazine interviewed psychiatrist Artem Baryshev.
Artem Baryshev
Psychosomatics is a widely discussed topic, but the mechanism of the mind’s influence on the body remains unclear. Artem Baryshev explains that scientists have yet to reach a consensus on the specific processes triggered by psychosomatics. However, the influence of the mind on our body is undeniable and mutual.
On one hand, our mental state affects our physical health, and on the other, our physical health impacts our mental state. The interaction between the two manifests as specific illnesses, known as psychosomatics.
Numerous theories attempt to describe the mechanisms of this interaction, but none can comprehensively and accurately explain all these processes. Scientists have not yet unraveled all the mysteries of our intricate organization. In psychosomatics, there are no simple linear connections. It involves a complex interaction between the nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems.
Which Psychological Problems Are Most Harmful to Health?
Anxiety and depressive disorders currently lead to the most somatic health issues. More accurately, they exacerbate existing conditions or act as triggers for their development.
Including Heart Diseases?
Yes. While it’s incorrect to say that depression alone causes myocardial infarction, as infarction is a multifaceted problem, it is well-established that in ischemic heart disease, concurrent depression significantly increases the risk of myocardial infarction. The same applies to anxiety disorders.
Depression causes a slowdown in the nervous system and a narrowing of the range of heart rate frequencies in response to physical or emotional stress. Consequently, the cardiovascular system loses its ability to adapt to such stresses, increasing the risk of adverse outcomes when they occur.
Generally, the link between mental problems and the development of cardiovascular diseases involves a non-specific inflammatory process in our bodies. This inflammation, on one hand, leads to the progression of atherosclerosis, which significantly affects the health of the heart and blood vessels, eventually resulting in infarctions, strokes, and thromboses. On the other hand, this inflammation can lead to depression.
Thus, ischemic heart disease and depression are, to some extent, inflammatory diseases.
What Symptoms Does a Person Experience When Anxiety or Depression Manifest Physically?
Most often, people notice rapid heartbeat, irregular heartbeats, and extra contractions known as extrasystoles. When these symptoms appear for the first time, people often become alarmed and start focusing on their heart’s functioning. In many cases, these sensations do not pose an immediate threat to life or health, as they are not symptoms of direct heart damage. Most often, these are manifestations of anxiety that the person is not fully aware of.
There is a process of transforming anxious experiences into physical sensations, in this case, somatic symptoms related to the cardiovascular system. This process is called somatization, a classic manifestation of the psychosomatics we are discussing.
Another group of heart-related symptoms common in anxiety and depressive disorders are various cardialgias (heart pains). Typically, patients describe them as tingling or short spasms that they can precisely locate, literally pointing to the spot and saying, “It hurts here.”
Could These Unpleasant Sensations Indicate Real Heart Problems?
Therefore, self-diagnosis is not advisable. If you experience the above symptoms or any others, you should consult a doctor. The first specialist to visit with your complaints is your primary care physician. They will conduct an examination and prescribe necessary tests to determine the next steps.
What Can Be Done About Anxiety?
The gold standard for treating anxiety disorders and depression is psychotherapy combined with antidepressants. These methods can also be used separately, but for severe disorders, a combination of both is more effective. Again, self-diagnosis and self-treatment are not recommended. Consulting a doctor to determine the optimal treatment plan is essential. Psycho therapists and psychiatrists are best equipped to handle these issues.
Simple Advice for Those Who Constantly Worry and “Strain” Their Hearts
If you find it challenging to take care of yourself, “mindfulness practices” can help. There is plenty of accessible literature on this topic offering simple and effective programs for overcoming stress, anxiety, and depression. These practices are easy to learn and can be done independently. Just 15–20 minutes of daily training can yield good results in a couple of weeks.
However, prevention is always better. Maintain a balance between work and rest, engage in regular physical activity, eat a balanced diet, and surround yourself with a supportive environment. It may sound cliché, but these are the foundations of your health. And it’s a fact.
Text: Anastasia Teteryuk
