Social Relationships, Stress, & Cardiac Health

Work-related stressors, poor sleep, and emotional disturbances have been correlated with adult-related cardiovascular disease.

Large bodies of research indicate that chronic stress, whether experienced in early life or as an adult, is linked to increased coronary heart disease risk. In particular, childhood adversity, including physical and sexual abuse in childhood, has been shown to relate to higher morbidity of cardiovascular events. Racism and discrimination create additional daily stressors for Indigenous people and new immigrants, impacting their increased cardiovascular disease risks.

A 2018 finding using data from the Jackson Heart Study suggested that in African American adults, global stress (overall stress level) and major life events were associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) severity.9 Additionally, men and women’s MetS and stress responses varied in severity. For example, men significantly increased their MetS severity at medium levels of stress, whereas women significantly increased their MetS severity at high levels of stress.

Healthy lifestyles begin in our homes, workplaces, and communities. And the conditions in which we live can shape our health and longevity.

The vascular endothelium responds to its environment. The environment of the vascular endothelium is what passes through the lumen. What passes through the lumen are molecules of information. These molecules of information go a long way to determine the health and the reactivity of that endothelium, therefore that reactivity of the blood vessel.

Some of the most potent messengers of communication to these blood vessels are hormones that are released during times of stress. When there are stressful social relationships, there will be adverse reactions of these heart vessels. That’s the crux of the matter. Over time, in low doses, if we can say, social stressors, relationship stressors can cause problems, which build up as antecedents to finally result in a heart attack, for example, or a cardiovascular event. We also know that acute emotional stressors and social stressors can actually trigger that ultimate heart event, heart attack, or other. We know that when somebody is suffering from a broken heart, their physiological and anatomical heart suffers.

Many diseases stemming from chronic stress and inflammation have early warning signs, meaning some cases may be prevented or improved with lifestyle changes that help manage stress. The functional medicine model focuses in on identifying stress as a cause of dysfunction and utilising specific interventions like exercise, meditation, and yoga that work for the individual patient. Tools such as the functional medicine timeline can also help clinicians identify areas of life where stress may be problematic and design treatments that focus on improving stress management.