A growing body of evidence suggests that psychological factors are — literally — heartfelt, and can contribute to cardiac risk, according to the latest edition of HEALTHbeat, a newsletter from the Harvard Medical School.
Stress from challenging situations and events plays a significant role in cardiovascular symptoms and outcome, particularly heart attack risk. Depression, anxiety, anger, hostility, and social isolation also affect cardiovascular health. Each of these factors heightens your chances of developing heart problems, according to HEALTHbeat. But emotional issues are often intertwined: people who have one commonly have another.