Work strife stresses the heart

In tough economic times, work stress might be hard to avoid. But for people in stressful jobs, it's especially important to take steps to manage the stress in order to protect the heart.

That's because stress not only has been shown to increase the risk of a first heart attack, but also a second.

"Work stress is bad for the heart, because it causes your body to be in a state of high arousal all the time," said Dr. Redford Williams, director of the behavioral medicine research center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

Other research has suggested that a stressful work environment causes a higher risk of heart attack, because it causes people to increase unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking more, drinking more alcohol and exercising less.

The bottom line? People need to be aware that there's a causal link between stress and heart disease. Stress is a chronic thing, and it's underestimated from a cardiac standpoint.