The Effects of Stress on Cardiac Patients and Children

Stress is a physical or emotional feeling that can occur after a situation or thought that makes one feel frustrated, angry or nervous. It occurs as a bodily reaction to a challenge or a demand. Rela’s Cardiac Experts explain that stress in small episodes can be positive and can help us meet deadlines or avoid a dangerous situation. However, this feeling has a risk. If it accumulates for a long time, it can become permanent and prove to be very harmful to physical or mental health, leading to the development of other pathologies or diseases.

Rela’s Cardiac Team warns that strong and continuous stress can affect our heart. “It is not only a precipitating factor in heart disease, but also has prognostic implications. That is, if a person with heart disease has stress, they will predictably have a worse evolution, so they have to be extra careful in dealing with stress”, said Dr.Ashok Kumar, Interventional Cardiologist from the Rela Heart Centre.

Owing to the prolonged lockdown and limited mobility, children’s stress levels are at an all time high. They are not guided towards effective methods to manage and relieve their stress. Stress in children needs to be better handled.

Dr. Ashok Kumar also emphasizes that there are various situations that lead to stress during childhood. Stress during childhood could contribute to the development of several diseases in adulthood. There are cases of children who have experienced excessive stress in childhood due to abuse or other stressful situations such as having a parent who has succumbed to drug addiction.

Dr.Ashok Kumar says “Stress in childhood is not only a trigger for cardiovascular disease, but also a risk factor for stress in adulthood and has implications throughout their life. If you are a parent who has identified such stress among children and you are not sure about how to handle it, I personally recommend you to take the help of doctors and address it, don’t ignore it”.