Heart attacks can be reduced by lowering stress levels

Despite the fact that retirement living should be relaxing, many older adults sometimes feel stressed. Whether this is due to caregiving responsibilities or financial problems, this emotion can contribute to a number of health problems, such as heart attacks.


One new program that is meant to lower stress levels has shown promising results in reducing repeat heart attacks as well, according to SeniorJournal.com.

Researchers conducted a study among 362 men and women who had all suffered from a heart-related incident within the past year and found that this new technique could lower the risk of another event by 45 percent.


Researchers addressed five core lifestyle factors - education, self-monitoring, skills training, cognitive restructuring and spiritual development - over 20 two-hour sessions that lasted for a full year. The more classes a person attended, the lower their chance was of having another heart attack.


"A possible mechanism is decreased behavioral and emotional reactivity, which would lead to less psychophysiologic burden on the cardiovascular system," the authors of the study wrote, according to the news source.


The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute estimates that, each year, 1.1 million Americans suffer from a heart attack and nearly half of these events prove fatal.


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