Broken or lonely heart can lead to actual heart problems for women?
A recent study claims that lonely or "forlorn" women have nearly 80% increase in the risk of heart disease. This is only the case for women. Other studies show that depression and social isolation creates a higher risk for getting heart disease as well. It seems that the basic explanation is: stress equals heart disease. Everything that causes or is manifest through stress and being stressed can lead to numerous health issues especially with the heart.
The recent study focused on loneliness since it's an "especially negative and distressing emotion that many people experience." Apparently people feel lonely when they don't have a sense of connectedness with their friends and family (this doesn't seem to hard to understand).
The article claims: "the link [between loneliness and heart disease] showed up only in women because they tend to be more concerned about relationship quality than men. Women also tend to be more distressed when relationships with spouses and friends aren’t as close as they hoped. And these new findings fall in line with other research showing that while any type of marriage can protect a man’s heart, a bad marriage can be harmful for a woman’s health."
What do you think? Why women and not men? What can women do to relieve their loneliness and stress and keep their hearts healthy? How can we, as Health Activists, get the word out about heart disease and women?
The recent study focused on loneliness since it's an "especially negative and distressing emotion that many people experience." Apparently people feel lonely when they don't have a sense of connectedness with their friends and family (this doesn't seem to hard to understand).
The article claims: "the link [between loneliness and heart disease] showed up only in women because they tend to be more concerned about relationship quality than men. Women also tend to be more distressed when relationships with spouses and friends aren’t as close as they hoped. And these new findings fall in line with other research showing that while any type of marriage can protect a man’s heart, a bad marriage can be harmful for a woman’s health."
What do you think? Why women and not men? What can women do to relieve their loneliness and stress and keep their hearts healthy? How can we, as Health Activists, get the word out about heart disease and women?
Tags: depression, disease, heart, loneliness, men, women
© 2009 Created by Marie
