{"id":39261,"date":"2026-01-01T00:22:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/why-managing-stress-is-vital-for-heart-health\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:22:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:22:54","slug":"why-managing-stress-is-vital-for-heart-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/why-managing-stress-is-vital-for-heart-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Managing Stress Is Vital for Heart Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chronic stress is the \u00adenemy of a healthy heart. It raises blood pressure and promotes systemic inflammation. It also leads to the overproduction of cortisol, a stress hormone that stimulates the body to store more visceral fat \u2014 a key feature of metabolic syndrome and a risk factor for CVD.<\/p>\n

\u201cStress is probably a key root cause of heart disease in 95 percent of patients that I work with,\u201d Bhojraj says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy its nature, stress is an adaptive response to help us,\u201d he \u00adcontinues. \u201cBut it\u2019s supposed to be brief exposures to stress, not chronic, long-term stress \u2014 which is what our modern lifestyles deliver. These normal, physiologic responses then start to have unintended conse\u00adquences that really put our bodies out of\u00a0balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social connection is a powerful stress reducer and proven supporter of heart health. Studies have shown that people with strong, supportive relationships are less likely to develop CVD and more likely to \u00adrecover well after cardiac events.<\/p>\n

So connect with your friends and family<\/a>. Enjoy relaxed, convivial meals. \u201cLoneliness is as toxic to the heart as smoking or obesity,\u201d Guarneri says.<\/p>\n

Dramatic actions like quitting a job or moving to another country may feel like the best way to break the stress cycle, but simple, daily practices are probably more effective. Breathwork<\/a>, meditation, prayer, gentle movement, and time in nature have all been shown to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping shift the body into rest-and-digest mode. Seek out ways to slow the pace of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Guarneri encourages patients to identify daily rituals that offer holistic support. \u201cAsk yourself: What did I do today for my body, mind, emotions, and spirit?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

It could be meditation, yoga, journaling, or just sitting calmly with a cup of tea. Any quiet, peaceful activity that settles your mind<\/a> can support your heart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What Your Heart Needs\n
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Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Some practitioners are now adopting an integrative cardiometabolic approach that involves new dietary and lifestyle measures to boost heart health. For more, see \u201c8 Ways to Support Heart Health<\/a>,\u201d from which this article was excerpted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Why Managing Stress Is Vital for Heart Health<\/a> appeared first on Experience Life<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chronic stress is the \u00adenemy of a healthy heart. It raises blood pressure and promotes systemic inflammation. It also leads to the overproduction of cortisol, a stress hormone that stimulates the body to store more visceral fat \u2014 a key feature of metabolic syndrome and a risk factor for CVD. \u201cStress is probably a key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-life"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 13:48:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}