Stress Archive

Cardiac rehabilitation—a supervised program to help people recover after a heart attack or heart surgery—may be more helpful if it includes stress reduction training, according to a study published online March 21 in the journal Circulation.

Researchers compared three groups of heart patients: people who did cardiac rehab for 12 weeks, those who did cardiac rehab plus stress reduction, and those who chose not to participate in cardiac rehab. The stress reduction group engaged in weekly, 1.5 hour-long sessions that included small group discussions and training in stress reduction, coping skills, and relaxation techniques.

A recently published study confirms what many of us have already observed: the popularity of yoga in the U.S. is exploding. More Americans now practice yoga than ever before — and they’re enjoying a range of health and wellness benefits associated with it. While there are still some negative perceptions of yoga that can discourage people from trying it, there’s a lot the yoga community can do to help them feel included.

Learning to deal with stress can lower your risk for anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular disease.

The more we learn about women's hearts, the more we realize that they are different from men's. One of the most dramatic differences is a rare heart condition called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or broken-heart syndrome, that is nine times more common in women than in men. It has been cited as evidence that sudden emotional stress can actually cause death in some women.

Like a heart attack, takotsubo cardiomyopathy strikes suddenly with symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath; however, it does not involve clogged arteries. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is brought on by a surge of stress hormones that literally bend the heart out of shape. As a result, when the main pumping chamber of the heart (the left ventricle) contracts, it balloons out, so it can't eject blood into the arteries effectively.

About 1 in 3 people report at least one episode of fainting during their lifetime, so it’s surprising that we don’t see people fainting more often. Fainting is usually harmless, the body’s response to emotional or physical stress. But in some cases, fainting can indicate an underlying problem such as heart abnormalities or seizures. And even when the cause of fainting is not that serious, fainting that leads to a fall can cause injury.