London Drugs

Focus On Health

Winter - Spring 2010

Spring - Summer 2009

Winter - Spring 2009

Just How Healthy Are You? (Part1)

Silverts Adaptive Fashions

Catching a Cold

The Relaxing Power of Colour

Reducing Workplace Stress

Just How Healthy Are You? (Part 3)

Say Goodbye to Dry Winter Skin

Quit Smoking the Easier Way

When Little Ones Are Sick

Relieving Ear Pressure

Controlling pain

Blood Pressure and Your Heart

Oops what did you just touch?

Measuring Your Personal Metabolism

Don't Worry: Be Healthy

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Just How Healthy Are You? (Part 2)

In This Issue

The Science of Cold Prevention

Supplements for Heart Health

Blood Pressure and Your Heart

Blood Pressure & Your Heart

Most people understand that stress is a killer, yet the precise ways in which stress affects the heart and blood vessels is not widely understood. Here is an outline of how stress affects you and what can be done to minimize its serious effects:

You may have heard your body’s reaction to stress referred to as the flight or fight response. This response was very useful in man’s earliest days when becoming a tasty lunch for a wild animal was not unusual. To aid survival, the body immediately secreted stress hormones such as adrenalin, which prepared the body to run fast (flight) or to become more aggressive (fight) and increased the chance of combatting the threat. These hormones temporarily made the heart beat faster, increased the blood pressure and caused the arteries to narrow.

Today, meeting a wild boar in the woods is an unlikely event, but the body remains capable of perceiving threats to its well being and reacts by producing the same stress hormones. Replacing threatening wildlife are other stressors, such as job deadlines, difficult workplace situations, complex family schedules and being stuck in traffic. While these may not seem as threatening to our well being—since we don’t actually have to run away or physically fight they are in fact worse, as they are ongoing.

Stress and your blood vessels

Increases in blood pressure due to stress can be dramatic. Although blood pressure returns to normal once the stressor disappears, even temporary spikes in blood pressure—when ongoing—can damage your blood vessels and heart. Here’s why:

The inside lining of the blood vessels (called the intima) is smooth and slippery, to allow the blood to move freely. The cells of the intima are easily damaged by high blood pressure, as well as too much sugar and nicotine (see page 8). When the cells are damaged, they pull away from each other, forming a tiny nick in the smooth arterial wall. As soon as this damage is detected, the body initiates repair tactics, “patching” up the hole with LDL (bad) cholesterol. If you have elevated levels of LDL to begin with (and/or too-low levels of HDL or good cholesterol), too much is deposited over the nicks.

The deposition of LDL over the nicks attracts the white cells of the immune system, which try to repair the damage. In doing so, the cells release their contents, causing inflammation. Together, the cholesterol and inflammation encourage the development of large “foam cells” in the arterial walls. These cells require a good supply of blood to keep them alive. As they grow in numbers, they outgrow their blood supply and send out an electric charge that attracts blood platelets.

As every high school biology student knows, platelets are what causes the blood to clot. Over time, the platelets attract more clotting proteins and the damaged area—now known as plaque—continues to grow. Eventually, the artery becomes clogged and the heart tissue fed by that blood vessel is cut off from its vital nourishment. Compounding the problem is the fact that many people react to stress by smoking, drinking too much alcohol or eating fat-laden “comfort” foods. This further increases the risk for high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. The next time you feel the need to de-stress, give your arteries a break, put on your walking shoes and take a spin around the block instead.

Long-term high blood pressure

Although many researchers have studied the link between chronic high blood pressure (hypertension) and stress, no one has been able to show conclusively that stress by itself causes this condition. Some health experts have therefore speculated that other behaviours linked to stress, including those mentioned above and poor sleep patterns, may lead to an increase in blood pressure that persists over the long term.