Recent research has shown that stress can increase the level of dangerous cholesterol in the blood.
When some people are placed under pressure their cholesterol level can rise dramatically, and this can build up so that even when they are calm their cholesterol level is still high.
This can expose them to a greater risk of heart disease.
Today stress and anxiety are Britain’s biggest cause of long term sickness and cost the country £3.75 Billion a year in lost production and health care. Stress and anxiety have also been blamed for illnesses including cancer, depression and heart disease.
Past research has also suggested that stress hormones could be behind the higher risk in heart disease. Now it also shows that cholesterol may also play a key role.
A study by University College London showed that high levels of cholesterol were exhibited in people who were put under pressure. Three years after the tests those individuals who had high levels of cholesterol still had higher levels overall. Those people who reacted most dramatically to the tests were three times more likely to have harmful cholesterol three years on.
Dr Andrew Steptoe, the lead researcher in the study said: “It is these responses in everyday life that accumulate to lead to an increase in fasting cholesterol. Or lipid levels three years later.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths of the British Heart Foundation said: “We know that stress has a link to heart disease. The research suggests that this may be due to stress causing long-term increases in cholesterol in some people.”
Other research has also shown that worry, which can bring about anxiety, during pregnancy, could stunt a child’s intelligence due to high levels of stress hormones in the womb.
Researcher Professor Vivette Glover of Imperial College London, who followed the progress of almost 70 women and their children said that the study showed that stress during pregnancy to be a major public health issue. She found that the biggest sources of stress include pressure at work, unhappy marriages, mental health problems and anxiety about pregnancy.
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