Work Strife Stresses the Heart

“‘Work stress is bad for the heart, because it causes your body to be in a state of high arousal all the time,’ said Dr. Redford Williams, director of the behavioral medicine research center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Dr. Matthew Lucks, a cardiologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., said that ‘stress does a lot of damage to the body.’ As stress quickly raises blood pressure, the amount of resistance in the blood vessels goes up, he said, and this can cause an increase in the atherosclerotic process, meaning the narrowing of blood vessels. Both Lucks and Williams recommended exercising, because it helps to reduce stress and anxiety levels and improves cardiovascular health. Lucks said that some of his patients try various techniques, such as tai chi, meditation, biofeedback and relaxation exercises, though he said he did not know if the techniques were effective. Williams and his wife, Virginia, developed their own stress management program, called Williams Life Skills, that teaches people the steps they can take to better control stress. He said they teach people to analyze each situation to see if it's something they can change, if it's something they should change or if it's something that cannot be changed. For situations that can't be changed, people learn how to calm themselves down using meditation, exercise and relaxation,’ he said.”

http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=622461