Stress Archive

Image: Thinkstock

Research we're watching

People who work long hours may face a higher risk of stroke, according to a study published online Aug. 20, 2015, by Lancet.

Researchers pooled data from 17 studies from the United States, Europe, and Australia that followed more than 528,000 workers for an average of just over seven years. None of the participants had cardiovascular disease when they signed up for the studies.

There are many different ways to find comfort when grieving. Some people find that spirituality or organized religion is a source of great solace. Specific rituals and rites — whether sitting shiva, setting up an altar inside your home, or gathering at the cemetery once a year — can draw people together and encourage them to share their grief. Attending religious services can link you with a well-defined community primed to offer help of all sorts. And a kind word, a willing listener, a shared meal, and any number of large and small acts of assistance help keep people afloat and ease their distress after a death.

Religious or spiritual beliefs may also help by lending larger meaning to a loved one's life and death. For some, the belief that a loved one is enjoying the spiritual riches of heaven or preparing for the next turn of the wheel through reincarnation can be comforting. Believing your loved one helps guide you in this world or that you will be reunited in another place after your own death can help you continue to feel connected with the person.

Unless you have symptoms of a heart problem, taking a cautionary look under the hood is unlikely to help—and could even be harmful.

Find out if your sleeping habits put you at risk—and what to do about it.

The search for an effective, easy-to-use treatment for sleep apnea has been going on for years. The gold standard is a breathing machine known as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). A report published online this week by JAMA Internal Medicine describes a mouth-guard-like device that may work for people with mild sleep apnea, but that may not be much help for those with severe sleep apnea. The 18 million Americans with obstructive sleep apnea sufferers are a powerful incentive for device manufacturers, and there are myriad alternatives to CPAP in the marketplace and under development. Swedish researchers tested a custom-fitted mandibular advancement device among people with self-reported sleep apnea. It worked, but a placebo device worked almost as well.

Stay well when caring for a loved one by maintaining your physical and emotional health. Caring for yourself means you'll be able to care for another.

You can't see your blood pressure or feel it, so you may wonder why this simple reading is so important. The answer is that when blood pressure is high, your heart is working overtime to pump blood through your body. This extra work can result in a weaker heart muscle and potential organ damage down the road. Your arteries also suffer when your blood pressure is high. The relentless pounding of the blood against the arterial walls causes them to become hard and narrow, potentially setting you up for stroke, kidney failure, and cardiovascular disease.

A healthy lifestyle — not smoking, losing excess weight, eating nutritious foods, and exercising regularly — is the cornerstone for preventing and treating hypertension.

Men need to be challenged to be healthy in mind and body.

It might seem like retirement is a time to take it easy and devote yourself to gardening, golfing, and napping. But don't take it too easy, say Harvard experts. An absence of challenges can have the same effect as too much stress, compromising your physical and mental health. For optimal well-being, you need to stay engaged—with your own interests as well as with other people.

Job strain—defined as having a demanding job in which you have little control—may slightly increase the risk of a stroke. The findings, in the February 2015 Stroke, echo earlier results that show a similar link between heart disease and job strain.

Researchers gleaned the results from 14 different studies that included more than 190,000 men and women from six European countries. Their average age was 42, and the follow-up lasted just over nine years, on average. Job strain was associated with a roughly 20% higher risk of ischemic stroke (the type that occurs when a clot blocks a blood vessel supplying the brain).

Known as non-obstructive coronary artery disease, this condition can trigger heart attacks down the road.

You just had a cardiac stress test and you passed with flying colors. Does that mean you are free of heart attack risk? Not necessarily, says Dr. Ron Blankstein, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and preventive cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.