Brain activity 'key in stress link to heart disease'

[0xcde4c3db]

> Heart experts said at-risk patients should be helped to manage stress.

Is there any high-quality evidence that "stress management" interventions actually lead to a medically significant reduction in biological stress? I see this sort of thing mentioned in passing in lots of places as a potential mitigation, but studies that actually examine its effectiveness seem to be in short supply, and what I can dig up quickly seems to be low-quality (underpowered, not randomized, not controlled).

[WillPostForFood]

Meditation has a growing body of evidence that it reduces stress, not sure if it reaches high quality threshold yet. But there is very little harm in trying it (versus diet or pharma interventions).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05...

[gm-conspiracy]

I don't even see how one could have effective "stress management" provided by a US health insurance company or healthcare provider.

Good luck getting treated for GAD without first some random SSRIs and blood pressure med cocktails.

[cpncrunch]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399903...

http://circoutcomes.ahajournals.org/content/2/1/25.short

[aladoc99]

Off the top of my head, stress reduction and meditation are part of the Dean Ornish program, which has some evidence for slowing atherosclerosis progression. Next question is, would causing a reduction in activity in the amygdala lead to reduced cardiovascular events?

[HillaryBriss]

A long time ago people reduced stress during the work day by stepping away from their desks, going outside, and enjoying a cool, relaxing, mentholated product from the Philip Morris company

[ohyes]

A nice smooth refreshing cigarette, and it will give you lung cancer before the heart disease kicks in.

[AnimalMuppet]

Even better, step away from the desk, go outside, skip the cigarette, and take a walk.

[lg]

why leave your desk?

[browseatwork]

I wonder how this relates to other findings about the relationship between stress, health, and mortality. It's a TED talk, but I found it to have some practical and interesting conclusions. Beliefs about stress impact how much harm stress causes.

https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress...

[kbart]

Is this new? I've heard for years that stress causes all kinds of health issues (first of all, heart disease) and thought it's universal knowledge.

[sgwealti]

It was but there wasn't a lot of information about how stress caused heart disease. This article talks about a potential mechanism for how it happens.

[ipunchghosts]

This is great news. Except now, how do quell activity in the amygdala?

[mannykannot]

The first step is to stop worrying about what your amygdala is doing.

[magic_beans]

Meditation and yoga practice.

[supernumerary]

Psilocybin

[ClayM]

beer?

[DoodleBuggy]

See? Don't overthink it.