A Healthy Mind Leads to a Healthy Heart
Those who struggle with their mental health not only have to worry about the mental— but also the physical. Struggles with mental health affect the heart for many different reasons; mental illness can lead to strokes, heart failure, heart attacks, and more. However, taking care of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and chronic stress before it takes its toll on the heart can reverse this. Let’s take a look at why mental illness affects the heart and if you suffer from these conditions, how to improve your heart health.
How Can Mental Illness Damage the Heart?
Simply having a mental illness affects the heart negatively, however, the lifestyle one leads when affected with a mental illness is also detrimental.
People suffering from mental illness are affected biologically through increased heart rate and blood pressure, raised levels of cortisol, and reduced blood flow to the heart. Having schizophrenia, for example, nearly doubles someone’s risk of dying from heart disease. Additionally, there is a forty percent increase in risk for developing heart disease if you are under extreme stress.
Not only is the heart affected biologically, but also negative lifestyle habits adapted by those with mental health conditions play a role. People with anxiety and depression, as well as other illnesses, tend to be likely to smoke, use substances, drink, or have an inactive lifestyle. All of these add up to an unhealthy life that increases the risk of heart problems.
How Can Positive Mental Health Improve a Heart Condition?
Having positive mental health can lead not only to a happier life but a heart-healthy one, too. Studies have found that positive mental health practices can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Reducing stress is key too. The less stress you have in your mind, the less you will have on your heart. Having peace of mind releases the tension in your body and allows it to function properly.
Quitting smoking, getting clean from drugs and alcohol, regular sleep, and working out are all steps in the right direction to a healthy heart. These seem like no-brainers; but those who are depressed, have PTSD, or other mental health conditions struggle to find positive coping skills. Finding these healthy coping skills is essential for someone with mental illness to reduce its damages to the heart.
It’s Not Too Late to Have a Healthy Heart
Say someone improved his or her mental wellbeing, started going to the gym, and found art as a positive coping skill. Is it too late to reverse the damage already done to the heart?
If you have the willpower to change your lifestyle then you can likely change the health of your heart. Coronary artery disease, for example, is reversible through diet and exercise. The heart does have some capabilities to repair itself and build new muscle. However, if you are already at the point where you’ve had a heart attack, there’s permanent scar tissue that cannot be replaced. The key to improving heart function is prevention. Therefore, the earlier you improve your mental health, the more likely you will prevent major heart events in the future.
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Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/mentalhealth.htm
https://serenitymentalhealthcenters.com/how-mental-health-affects-physical-health/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/ask-the-doctor-does-exercise-help-damaged-heart-muscle