How Does Your Mental Health Affect the Heart?
How to stay heart healthy — even when you’re down.
When you’re feeling down, it’s easy to reach for your favorite comfort food or skip a workout. But thinking about your heart health is important, even when you’re not feeling upbeat.
When people are stressed, anxious or depressed, they may feel overwhelmed. They’re less likely to make healthy lifestyle choices. They may be more likely to:
- Smoke more
- Be physically inactive
- Sleep too little or too much
- Drink too much alcohol
- Not take their prescribed medications
Over time, these unhealthy behaviors can increase the risk of heart disease.
Trauma, depression, anxiety and stress can lead to changes that can affect your health, and not just because you may fall into habits that are bad for your heart. Research shows that mental health also has physiological effects on the body.
Depression is reported in over one-third of Americans ages 18 and older. It is estimated that one in five U.S. adults is living with a mental illness.
Can depression cause heart disease or heart attack?
When you experience depression, anxiety or stress, many changes happen in your body that can increase your risk for heart disease. Depression and anxiety can also develop after cardiac events, including heart failure, stroke and heart attack.
What can I do to help my stress, anxiety or depression?
If you’re struggling with depression, stress or anxiety, taking three key steps can help.
1. Identify the cause of your depression, stress or anxiety and address it.
Seek therapy if needed.
You may sometimes feel down for a couple of days, but if it goes on for two weeks or more, you may need to seek help. Depression is a problem when it causes a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed, along with other issues such as trouble sleeping and changes in weight and/or persistent feelings of sadness most of the day, nearly every day. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can lower your ability to function at work and home.
2. Choose healthy habits and don't rush it.
If you aren't in the habit of exercising, start gradually.
Something as simple as walking 30 minutes a day, even if you do only 10 minutes at a time, can help your heart. Physical activity improves your mood while you’re doing it, but regular physical activity can also improve your mental well-being, lower the risk of depression and improve your overall quality of life. The AHA recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity every week.
If reaching for unhealthy foods has become a habit, try using healthier cooking techniques or substituting ingredients to reduce fat, added sugar, sodium and calories. Grab healthy snacks, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, or choose undressed salads and other low-fat dishes when eating out.
3. Incorporate other healthy lifestyle changes one at a time.
Don’t try to “fix” everything at once. That’s especially true if one of the habits you want to break is smoking.
Quitting smoking can be difficult. If you smoke, talk with your health care professional to decide if you need medications or other therapies to help you quit. Therapies may include nicotine replacement or prescription medications. You could also ask for a referral for a smoking cessation program.
Ultimately, you have to take care of yourself to break the cycle of feeling down. That could be doing something structured, such as yoga, tai chi or something you can do anywhere, such as meditating, listening to music or reading a book.
