Stressed Out? How You Handle It May Predict Future Health Issues

Uh, my work life got a LOT more stressful recently, and it’s probably not healthy to scream at my computer with my phone mic muted.

Also: not healthy to go days without leaving the house.

Must. Do. Something.

In the latest research showing just how important the handling of stress is, a new study shows that having a stress-prone personality could seriously up your risk for heart disease.The new research, conducted in a large Danish population, found that people who are "mentally vulnerable" — meaning they are more susceptible to stress — are at a significantly higher risk for both fatal and non-fatal heart events. The studys findings were presented on April 18 in Rome at the EuroPRevent 2013 congress.Researchers measured "mental vulnerability" on a 12-point scale, looking at mental and physical symptoms that measured an individuals level of stress, and determined whether they had a personality that was more prone to getting stressed-out. A statistical analysis of nearly 11,000 individuals showed that mental vulnerability was correlated with cardiovascular events, both fatal and non-fatal, independently of normal risk factors like smoking, cholesterol and age.The researchers followed the Danish cohort, which consisted of 10,943 individuals initially free of heart disease, for nearly 16 years. Just over 3,000 fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events were recorded during the follow-up analysis, and the data showed that the risk of cardiovascular events in the mentally vulnerable was 36 percent higher than in the non-vulnerable, independently of other risk factors.

via Vulnerability To Stress May Increase Risk Of Heart Disease, Study Finds.