The ‘Silent Killer’ Ischemia

Women Need to Prioritize their Health

Women feel responsible for all activities in their family and overburden themselves many-a-time subjecting themselves to psychological stress. A new study shows that such stress can impact women in a harsh way, even more when she suffers from heart disease.
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Earlier studies have already proved that women are likelier to develop myocardial ischemia (abnormal restriction of blood supply to heart muscle) than men when they perform mentally stressful tasks. The new study focuses on the underlying differences between men and women when analyzing the cause behind reduced blood flow.

Stress-led Ischemia
The new study included 678 people with heart disease and these people were asked to speak in front of an unfamiliar group of audience. Before and after the speech, every individuals’ blood pressure and heart rate were measured, heart scan was taken and constriction of tiny arteries supplying blood to their fingers were measured to observe the tightening of arteries during the process. While mental stress led to restricted blood flow in both men and women, the underlying reasons for the same were very different:

• In women, the ischemia was mainly due to constriction of blood vessels that forced the heart to pump against increased resistance.
• In men, the ischemia was due to increased blood pressure and heart rate during mental stress that increased workload on the heart.
• The healthy response in both the cases should have been for the small blood vessels to actually dilate to allow increased blood flow to the tissues.
  
  

Mental stress is not bad and sometimes even good as it increases performance output. Women must get one thing cleared-they must accept feeling stressed and work towards eliminating it from their lives. For this, women must first understand to recognize when they are stressed out. Secondly, physicians treating patients with heart disease need to focus on the mental stress quotient of their patients, especially female patients. There are simple ways to relax yourself and you can find tips on the same at the website www.firsteatright.com. 

The best advise to any woman would be to take care of herself first. Only then she would be able to take care of people around her in a positive way. It is crucial that the woman cares for her body and mind, gives herself a well-deserved break between hectic schedules and enjoys ‘me’ time with relaxing therapies or techniques such as meditation and yoga.