It is pretty much accepted that stress, heart problems and high blood pressure all go together.

If there is a physical problem with your heart, excess physical exertion can bring on a heart attack. It happens every winter, someone who is normally not too active goes out to shovel snow and dies from a heart attack.

Mental stress that wear you and your body out on a daily basis can bring on angina pain, heart attacks and abnormal heart arrhythmias. An elevated heart rate can turn into tachycardia. Although you will experience an elevated heart rate when doing exercise, just sitting and watching TV and feeling stressed can do the same thing. When you stop exercising, your heart rate will drop back to normal. When stress is causing that rapid heart beat, it is a little more difficult to stop.

What are the physical ways that stress effects your heart.

Sudden stress can cause the heart to pump faster and constrict arteries. There is a slow down in the flow of blood to the heart. Blood also becomes stickier. In a world of flight or fight this made sense. If you were going to be wounded, you wanted to not bleed to death.

If your stress is keeping your health in a constant state of panic, you are inviting problems with heart rhythms and blood clots. Your blood pressure will keep climbing and that stroke you worry about is a real possibility.

One way to release all that stress is a little exercise. Don’t try to run a mile, but do go for a walk. A brisk walk not only takes the edge off your stress but allows your brain to focus on something other than what is worrying you.

When you are on that walk, focus on the walk. Focus on how deeply you are breathing. Focus on how your arms and legs move. Look at the world around you. Stop and smell the flowers.

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