Heart disease and depression, you cannot ignore the relationship between two. A cardiologist from the University of Iowa also suggests that diseases and depression work both ways; a person with heart disease is likely to suffer from depression. 

A person with depression has an increased risk of developing fatal heart diseases. Hence, we can say that depression and heart disease mostly coexist with each other.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. It takes nearly 17.3 million lives each year, according to world health organizations (WHO). Emotional stress for long periods leads to depression and mostly becomes responsible for coronary artery diseases.

An associate professor of psychology in IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) also suggests that thirty years’ epidemiological data points to that depression do envisage the development of heart-related diseases. 

So, to keep your heart healthy, you need to take care of your mental health too. According to covid free hospital, declininging mental health decreases productivity and causes life-long medical issues and sometimes death also.

Who is more likely to suffer from heart disease?

After years of research, people who are more likely to suffer from heart diseases are:

Veterans or army personnel are at higher risk of developing heart diseases because they work under extreme pressure and stress conditions. 

Though the psychological training of people is done, prolonged stress conditions do affect them. PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is common in veterans due to continued fighting.

Women are more likely to suffer from a heart-related problem if there is a family history of heart problems. Women or men having PTSD are more likely to suffer from deteriorating physical health and mental conditions.

Disparities in social structure are also responsible for depression and the risk of heart diseases. 

Anxiety, stress, and depression are found in those ethnic groups and social minorities who suffered from adverse childhood experiences, racism, or any kind of discrimination. These factors eventually lead to hypertension and increased cardiovascular reactivity.

Indicators of Depression:

You need to watch yourself to prevent depression; it always comes with apparent signs. If you feel sad for more extended periods, you are more likely to be suffering from depression. 

Usually, painful feelings go away within a week or two, but if it stays more than that, seek help, talk to people or medical professionals (recommended) about yourself, and get out of that vicious circle of sadness. Other visible symptoms:

  • Feeling irritable all the time
  • Unable to concentrate
  • Difficulty in making decisions
  • Feeling tired all the time
  • Not having the energy to carry on daily chores
  • Feeling of despair and helplessness
  • You will be either be sleeping too much or not at all sleeping 
  • Sudden weight loss or gain due to a change in appetite
  • A loss of desire to enjoy
  • Feeling worthless
  • Self-hate and unwanted guilt
  • Pains and aches
  • Intolerance
  • Absentmindedness
  • And, in extreme conditions, frequent feeling of committing suicide, i.e., wanting to die.

Depression after a heart disease:

Approximately 15-20 percent of people who have undergone some kind of coronary bypass or suffered from CVD are likely to experience depression. If a person suffers from heart disease, increased stress levels will weaken a person’s immune system, arterial damage, high blood pressure, and irregular heart rhythms. These people are more likely to suffer from blood clots and cardiac arrest.  

If a person gets into a vicious cycle of getting depressed, the mortality rate is 17 percent, while a person (heart patient) without depression has a mortality rate of 3 percent. You need not worry about heart disease and depression, Technology have improved, Go with depression medication online.

During recovery from heart surgery, sluggishness, intense pain, fatigue is caused by depression. It can also make a person go into social isolation. Patients who have had CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) and have untreated depression increase mortality and morbidity.

Depression before a heart disease:

If a person is suffering from continued mood disorders, anxiety, chronic stress disorder, and stress will soon develop chronic depression and become an agent of blood clots and heart diseases.

The human body will protect itself from inside and outside. When you are stressed, our body (to relieve it) releases a hormone known as cortisol. 

Tension over the long term increases your body’s cortisol levels and, in due course, increases blood cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar. All of them are responsible for bad heart health and can cause plaque buildup in arteries causing a heart attack.

Long-term depression could lead to death, but short-term stress also causes health problems like low blood flow triggering less oxygen to the heart muscle, makes the blood stickier, and increases the danger of stroke.

How to treat Depression:

To save yourself from depression and coronary heart diseases, you need to make conscious choices daily. It does not work like you will get up one day, and depression will be gone; it will go gradually, but you can start the cold turkey.

To reduce your depression, get into physical activities, be active. Exercise no less than 30 to 40 minutes daily. Exercise is proved to be helpful in keeping depression in check and reducing stress levels. Build a healthy support system with whom you can talk in stress conditions. 

You also need to change your eating habits, i.e., do not overeat in stress conditions. Stop smoking and drinking alcohol because they affect your body negatively and increase the risk of heart diseases. And finally, get a healthy diet and enough sleep to live a life with good heart health.