Does Anxiety Affect Your Long Term Heart Health?

Does Anxiety Affect Your Long Term Heart Health?

Does Anxiety Affect Your Long Term Heart Health? 2560 1349 Long Island Counseling Services

Anxiety is a mental health condition. One of the symptoms of anxiety for many people, however, is fear over the person’s health. Anxiety causes such a wide variety of physical symptoms related to the heart – such as a rapid heartrate, trouble breathing, and lightheadedness – that it’s easy to understand why so many people have heart-related anxieties develop.

Rest assured, your heart is designed to handle this. While everyone’s individual heart health may vary, the speeding up and slowing down of a person’s heart due to anxiety does not, on its own, cause heart-related health problems. But what about if you have anxiety in the long term? That answer is a bit more complicated.

How Anxiety Influences the Cardiovascular System

Let’s start by reviewing what anxiety does to the cardiovascular system in general while you have anxiety symptoms.

Anxiety triggers the body’s stress response, also known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction. This physiological state involves the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which prepare the body for immediate action. A lot of those changes are related to the heart, such as –  

  • Increased Heart Rate
  • Elevated Blood Pressure
  • Inflammation
  • Irregular Heart Rhythms

Now, if you do have a heart condition, these can be worrisome. For example, blood pressure spikes when you already have elevated blood pressure can be problematic, and if your heart health is poor, irregular heart rhythms may increase its danger.

But in general, your heart is designed to handle these bursts.

Still, while occasional anxiety episodes are unlikely to cause lasting harm, what we’re most worried about is chronic, unmanaged anxiety and whether that can have cumulative effects on heart health.

Long-Term Heart Health Risks Linked to Anxiety

It should be noted that this topic is a bit complicated. For example, if anxiety leads to issues like overeating or drug abuse (both more common in those with anxiety), then it will affect your heart, including your heart, but only be tangentially related to anxiety.

Still, there are reasons to be concerned about untreated, long term anxiety and its affects on your heart. For example, research indicates that chronic anxiety may be associated with an increased risk of several long-term cardiovascular issues, including:

  • Hypertension – Prolonged stress hormone activity can contribute to persistent high blood pressure.
  • Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) – Anxiety-related inflammation and vascular strain can elevate the risk of plaque buildup in the arteries.
  • Heart Attacks and Stroke – Anxiety may influence risk factors that can lead to cardiovascular events, including poor sleep, inflammation, and hypertension.
  • Cardiomyopathy – Prolonged stress can weaken the heart muscle, a condition sometimes called stress cardiomyopathy or “broken heart syndrome.”

Still, even as you age, the heart is remarkably strong. If you can reduce your anxiety, you may be able to stop the progression of these issues along with it.

The Extra Motivation to Help Address Your Long Term Health

Anxiety alone is enough to warrant a treatment. No one likes to live with anxiety, and approaches like talk therapy are highly effective at reducing symptoms and making it easier for you to live a higher quality of life.

But if you need that extra motivation, consider your heart. There is no known reason to be concerned about anxiety in the short term – or even the medium term. Unless you already have heart issues, it is unlikely any will occur due solely to anxiety within a few years. But if decades pass and you’re still not getting your anxiety treated, it can hurt your health.

Address anxiety now, and start living a much better life inside and out. Contact us today to get started.