What is stress?
Think of a moment when something suddenly startled you. There’s no time to think. Your stress level shoots up instantly. And that’s a good thing. The stress hormones your body releases put you on edge and make you focused and ready to act. Fight, flight or freeze? Stress helps you respond in a split second.
The same goes for less dramatic situations: right before you speak to an audience, in busy city traffic, or just before you face your opponents on the sports field.
In fact, stress is a very natural, healthy bodily response. But things can go wrong when the pressure is too great or the tension goes on for too long. This can be the case with persistent relationship problems for example or when you are feeling insecure about your health, your financial situation or your job.
Extreme or persistent stress levels completely throw our immune system into disarray. In that case, our body goes into survival mode over a length of time, which has a negative impact on our body.
How does stress develop?
Stress can manifest itself in different ways. We can experience acute stress when we suddenly find ourselves in an emergency situation, or chronic stress that lasts a longer period of time.
How to be more resilient towards stress
It’s not just acute or chronic tension that determines how we feel. Our individual resilience also plays a part in this. If you are feeling comfortable in your own skin, you feel like you could take on the world.
But watch out for those times when you are feeling weak and less resilient. It is at times like these that stress can take away your energy. Stress also hits perfectionists, passionate and competitive people harder.
Stress resilience is a valuable personality trait to have in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Just think about how this ‘quality’ pops up in just about every single job advertisement out there, regardless of the post involved. Extensive scientific research provides proof of the link between work-related stress and cardiovascular disease. Male, female, young or old, on the shop floor or at managerial level: it makes no difference. All of us are potential victims. Stress is not exactly picky.
So what causes this work-related tension? Research shows that long working days (over 55 hours a week versus the standard 40 hours), constantly changing shifts, working late nights, along with the job content, weighty responsibilities, feeling under-appreciated by your employer and job insecurity can tear your resilience to shreds.
How to spot stress?
If you are facing too much pressure, your body may respond in various ways.
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You can feel your heart thumping in your chest.
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You are breathing fast.
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You are having constant headaches.
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Your muscles are aching.
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You feel dizzy at times.
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Your limbs are shaking or trembling.
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At times, you are pouring with sweat.
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You constantly feel like eating, or quite the reverse: you are unable to eat a thing.
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You find it difficult to fall asleep and/or spend hours lying awake at night.
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You are fatigued.
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You feel restless.
It’s important not to ignore these symptoms, but to take them as a warning sign from your body.
Stress: hard on your heart
Your heart and stress are not a good match. Once stress takes a hold, your heart rate goes out of control, your blood pressure soars, stress hormones are released and can contribute to arteriosclerosis, … This makes for the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of cardiac problems.
Stress has long earned a leading position in the ranking of traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disorders (alongside age, genetic predisposition, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes). For heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation it’s an important factor too, and even in the case of strokes, there is a mounting body of scientific evidence that points the finger of blame at stress.
Moreover, stress plays a dual role. It can both cause cardiovascular disease, and exacerbate existing conditions as well. And we all know how difficult it can be to step away from unhealthy lifestyle habits (smoking, comfort eating, alcohol) when we are under pressure and we want to take our mind off things.
Are you under pressure, feeling stressed, worried? Discuss the matter with your GP. You can already measure your heart rate and heart rhythm in the privacy of your own home, using our medically certified app, which will efficiently pick up on any abnormalities.
Tips to deal with stress
Step 1 – Reduce stress: make life easier on yourself
Multi-tasking has long been considered a symbol of success. It was a case of work, work, work until we dropped. So it is time for a fresh mindset. Which can be achieved by making a number of small changes:
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Stop torturing yourself with unfeasibly demanding to-do lists. Setting yourself an ever-growing number of challenges to pull off is exhausting. Focus on one task at a time and finish that task. If something urgent pops up, make sure your day is not overloaded with a jam-packed workload. Shift other things around.
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Strictly segregate your job from your private life. Make sure you have a dedicated space just for work, switch off notifications on your smartphone and put away your laptop at the end of the working day.
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If unexpected things keep popping up that eat away at your spare time, schedule times for you to relax, get some exercise and have fun with family and friends. And make sure you keep to those scheduled times in the same way you would want to keep a business appointment.
Step 2 – Step up your resilience: do not put time and effort into things, but into good times with friends and family
Call round to see your parents, play with your children, hijack the kitchen to make a pizza together, go for a bike ride or have a lovely picnic. Unforgettable experiences like these can decrease your stress levels instantly.
An easier life, with more fun and heart-warming times. There is no arguing with that, surely?
Stressing about possible heart rhythm disorders? No need.
FibriCheck is the first medically certified app that measures your heart rate and heart rhythm via your smartphone.
References
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Dimsdale JE. Psychological stress and cardiovascular disease, J Am Coll Cardiol, 2008, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2007.12.024.
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Kivimäki M, Kawachi I. Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2015. doi: 10.1007/s11886-015-0630-8.
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Herrmann-Lingen C, Wachter R. Psychological stress and incidence of atrial fibrillation. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2020. doi: 10.1177/2047487319898022.