Stress and physical disease: The evidence is convincing

(HealthDay News) – It's hardly a secret, but studies about the connection between a person's psychological well-being and his or her physical condition are making cause-and-effect just about irrefutable.

A number of studies during the past year indicate that stressful situations in one's personal life or in the workplace can have serious consequences. Here are some examples:

When married couples lose their cool with one another, it may take a toll on their hearts, too, researchers have found. What's more, the damage that's wrought may depend on how they lose it, according to study leader Tim Smith, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah .

For women, hostility appears to be the culprit. Wives who were hostile in disagreements with their spouses were more likely to have atherosclerosis, often referred to as hardening of the arteries, Smith and his colleagues discovered. Levels of calcification were particularly high among those women whose husbands also were hostile.

Among husbands, atherosclerosis was more common when either they or their wives acted in a controlling manner, the research team said.

Whether it's social conditioning or some other factor that causes women to be influenced by hostility and men by issues of control is uncertain, Smith said. It's hard to separate biological, psychological, and social/cultural processes, he explained, but social conditioning "would certainly play a role."

Smith and his colleagues first presented their research at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.

And in the workplace, controlling stress can actually affect cholesterol levels, according to a study issued in August. A man who keeps his cool in a stressful situation helps himself by increasing blood levels of HDL cholesterol, the good kind that keeps arteries clear, a study indicates.

And he might be adding years to his life.

That finding was a surprise, said Carolyn M. Aldwin, a member of a group presenting the study Aug. 19 at the American Psychological Association's annual convention, in San Francisco Work-related stress is one of several factors that may increase the risk of heart attack.

In practical terms, a first step toward self-control is to try not to get too upset about stressful things, Aldwin said. "You have to keep problems in perspective. Most problems are not major when compared to life-threatening trauma," she said.

The best way to handle a stressful problem "is to go ahead and fix the problem," Aldwin said. If a problem is not fixable, well, sometimes you just have to learn to let go, she added.

Meanwhile, employers can help reduce workers' stress levels by initiating intervention programs.

In a study published in the January 2007 issue of the journal Hypertension , researchers tested the effects of a stress-reduction intervention program in workers who faced layoffs -- a significant stress-inducer.

The participants included 91 office workers at a DuPont subsidiary in Italy that was downsizing its workforce by 10 percent and a control group of 79 healthy volunteers who worked outside of the company and reported no work-related stress.

The stressed workers had significantly higher stress and fatigue than the controls, and reported more stress-related symptoms such as difficult sleep, pounding of the heart, and gastrointestinal problems. In addition, the stressed workers' ECGs indicated that their heart rhythm was showing signs of stress.

How significant are the differences in the way males and females handle stress?

"There are well-documented differences in the ways that men and women talk and relate to one another, so finding gender-linked differences related to heart risks makes sense to me," said Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor and director of the Division of Health Psychology at Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Psychologist Anie Kalayjian, professor of psychology at Fordham University , said she's had patients end up in the emergency room, convinced they were having a heart attack, but instead, it was just the body's extreme response to stress.

"If you're a person running around with high energy or nervous energy, you may not realize that you're stressed until you collapse!" said Kalayjian.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, some possible signs that you're under too much stress are: Anxiety, back pain, stiff neck, depression, fatigue, trouble sleeping, unexpected weight changes, headaches, relationship troubles and high blood pressure.

"People need to start proactively trying to prevent episodes before they have extreme reactions," recommended Kalayjian.

Still, managing stress or reducing it as much as you can is a smart idea, because constant stress leaves your body flooded with stress hormones, which can increase your risk of heart attack and other serious health problems.

"Stress causes physical and psychological reactions. It can alter your sleep. It leaves you constantly in fighting-mode and leaves your immune system suppressed. You may get sick a lot," Kalayjian said.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to managing stress.

"Some things will be right for one person but not for another. Be open, and try things. Give something a try, and if it's not right for you, move on to something else. You'll eventually find something that's right for you," said Evo.

Some of the approaches she recommends include: Massage, healing touch, yoga, tai chi, walking, meditation and guided imagery.

On the Web

The American Heart Association has more in formation on the relationship between stress and heart disease.

SOURCES: Interviews with Tim Smith, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Carolyn M. Aldwin, Chair, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Oregon State University , Corvallis ; Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., professor and director of the Division of Health Psychology, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus; Anie Kalayjian, Ph.D., professor of psychology, Fordham University, New York City
Publication date: October 2007
Authors: Karen Pallarito, Ed Edelson and Serena Gordon, HealthDay Reporters
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