Working women, stress more than men?
What a Valentines day surprise I have! I’ve just been diagnosed with heart disease today – Feb 14th.
Im in my early 50’s and after a life time working super hard to get to the top of a publishing corp. its very clear that media is very stresfull deadline based kind of work. All this hard work (I’m sure) was a main reason for my recent diagnosis with heart disease. Im too old to change jobs and not that I’d even want to, but what must I do to control my stress and protect my heart’s health?
Bleeding heart, Angie
p.s. my mom is very healthy but my dad dies at 56 of a heart attack.
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Dear Angie,
What a shocking result the diagnosis must have been? Was it part of an annual check up, or did you have a cardiac event?
Whatever happened, the simple truth is that what you’ve been doing in your life up to this point has damaged your heart’s health, so be delighted that your cardiologist gave the diagnosis on Valentines Day rather that not at all. You need to make some changes as women who work hard, often suffer from stress related disease.
Cardiac researchers have found links between women’s job stress and cardiovascular disease. Findings from a Harvard Female Health Study (a landmark inquiry into disease prevention involving more than 10,000 healthy female professionals ) show that women whose work is highly stressful have a 40% increased risk of heart disease compared with their less-stressed colleagues.
The results, also showed that women who worry about losing their jobs are more likely to have high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels and to be obese. The researchers used a definition of “job strain” that combines psychological demand and degree of control. (Please do your Type D personality test at www.stressedpersonality.com and email me the results justin@kennedy.co.za ). There are innumerable studies that show the greater the work pressure, the higher the risk for heart disease among women ages 51 and under. And in a study of white-collar workers, explained that female job strain was associated in women (but not in men) with increased thickness of the carotid artery wall, an early sign of cardiovascular disease.
As you probably know Angie, your body is designed to react to life-threatening events (“The oven is on fire!”) with the “fight-or-flight” response (proposed by Prof Cannon at Harvard. This neurological process triggers a cascade of chemicals and hormones that speed the heart rate, quicken breathing, increase blood pressure, and boost the amount of energy (sugar) to work effectively.
But, the body does a poor job of discriminating between grave, imminent dangers and less momentous ongoing sources of stress, such as financial difficulties, job strain, and even worries about potential problems that haven’t yet happened yet. When the fight-or-flight response is chronically in the “on” position, the body suffers from what the Hungarian, Prof Seyle called the Generalized Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Work overload or any causes cardiac problems by you being in flight or fight mode which causes your heart to beat faster and will sadly cause you to have “GAS” i.e. a Generalized Adaptation Syndrome. So stress will inflame your coronary arteries, leading to blood clots that can trigger a heart attack. This might be what happened to your dad? Stress also makes it harder to practice healthy heart habits, such as exercise, a good diet, quitting smoking, and sleeping deeply often enough.
How do you ‘do’ in these areas Angie?. It’s hard to tell what proportion of heart attack risk is due to psychological stress as opposed to, say, smoking or lack of exercise. And some women may be predisposed (genetically or from early life experience) to react less effectively than others to stressors and as research becomes available I will be sure to post it here as .
The stress induced by excessive demands and too little control is not unique to the workplace. Many women have multiple concurrent jobs — for example, caring for children, aging parents, or other relatives while running a household and working outside the home — often without the resources to manage them all. Situations like this may be unavoidable, and in a tight job market, you may feel there’s little you can do to make your work life less stressful.
But you really want to know what can you do?
Below I have detailed 7 invaluable ways that you can use to implement a self regulated cardiac protection programme for yourself and the love of your life … your heart.
Here are 7 steps you can take to regain cardiac health:
- Leave work at work! Limit interruptions and intrusions (such as work-related e-mails) on your life outside of work. Smart phones and laptops make sure work is only a click away. So know that clicking and working at night will hurt your ticker.
- Loving Relationships. Spend more time fostering mutually supportive relationships with friends, family, and co-workers. If you are busy allot of the time simply schedule this is Angie!
- Get regular exercise. It’s good for the heart by making it stronger and able to not beat so urgently when at work.
- Reduce anxiety and improve sleep routine. Email me for more info on the StressFit program if you like.
- Get a hobby. preferably with people you like to see that isn’t work related.
- Practice your Relaxation Response (proposed by Benson at Harvard). This could include: relaxation techniques, such as meditation, deep breathing, progressive relaxation, or visualization. These and others eg. Autogenic training and mindfulness are also all part of the StressFit program.
- Seek help! Dont leave this Angie, if you’re feeling concerned, a blog will offer little real help. You need to apply this info in a way that suits you. If you are overwhelmed, please reply or seek help from a mental care professional, health coach or anyone you trust.
All the best for your heart’s health for this (and MANY more Valentines’ Days:)
Kindest regards,
Justin
So, if you need more help to implement these simple ideas please email me – justin@kennedy.co.za
Dr Justin J. Kennedy
B.Soc.Sci; MSBC; PhD
Mobile: +27.82.370.2080
Email: justin@kennedy.co.za
Website: http://www.stressmedicine.co.za/info
