Heart Disease can be caused by Stress

January 10th, 2006

Blood Pressure monitor

A recent study published in Psychophysiology confirms that mental stress raises blood pressure and also causes negative emotions in the brains regions which cause a physical response to the whole body.

Because of the activity in the cingulated cortex while the person is having mental stress it may cause their blood pressure to rise and this puts the individual at a higher risk for heart disease.

The study was conducted on men and women who had their mental activity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They also measured their blood pressure while the men and women were performing a computer task that created mental stress. By measuring the brain activity and the blood pressure during the task the researchers were able to instantaneously see the changes and the direct relationship between brain activity and blood pressure.

It has already been suspected that stress will raise blood pressure, but this study concretes that getting mentally stressed can cause your body to be affected. Finding ways to reduce your mental stress and handle situations better can be one way to help keep blood pressure lower along with medication, diet and exercise.