Saturday, March 7, 2009

Stress can cause you Serious Heart Problems

By Allie Hart

Stress induced anxiety can build to the point of a panic attack. A person experiencing a panic attack feels nervous and afraid to the extreme point that they cannot act or think normally.

Since fear is an overwhelming symptom of an attack of anxiety, the brain tells the body that it is in danger. It tells the body, in a sense, that it must be put on full alert. Be ready to fight or flight!

The body organs get the message from the brain to prepare for an emergency. The heart starts pumping blood faster to supply the organs extra energy. Muscles start tensing, eyes dilate and are on alert, hearing is keener.

When the brain signals the body is in danger the heart races providing emergency blood to the other organs: The eyes are on alert, the muscles tighten and tense, hearing is keener --- literally every part of your body is called on for greater energy.

Normally periods of danger are relatively short. However, with stress induced anxiety, the brain keeps the body on full alert. All the work that goes into maintaining that high level makes it impossible to sustain it.

So the heart is told to beat faster, but then, because the body needs to rest, the brain signals the heart to slow down. But the anxiety tells it to speed up. Everything is racing and everything is trying to slow down. Eventually it is easier just to stop.

Here are some effects of a an anxiety attack:

Common heart problems might sometimes be classified as stress heart problems. When you understand the affect that stress induced anxiety has on the body, it is not difficult to understand why.

No wonder stress can cause you heart problems. You have to find a way to reduce anxiety or it will eventually cause your brain to give constant mixed signals to all of your organs -- taxing them to the limit.

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