Poor Mental Health Can Cause Cardiovascular Disease

If you used to think that depression and poor mental health are only a matter of the mind, then it is not so. A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has found that poor mental health is associated with premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults.

Experts say that this problem can be reduced by early detection. If someone has symptoms of depression or anxiety, treatment should be done immediately.

In this research, researchers used data from 2017 to 2020 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on 5.9 lakh young adults (18-49 years). The researchers examined the association of days of depression and poor mental health with CVD in patients. Among the 593,616 participants, the prevalence of depression was 19.6 per cent and that of CVD was 2.5 per cent. People with depression were more likely to develop CVD than those without depression. The Hopkins Cicarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, and others found that the likelihood of CVD (heart disease) was higher among people who reported a greater number of poor mental health days.

Depression and psychosocial risk factors are associated with CVD, with people who develop heart disease becoming depressed and those who are depressed more likely to have poor health, eat poorly, or seek adequate care.

Twenty years ago the InterHeart study was published, which compared risk factors for acute heart attack in populations in more than 50 countries. India was part of it and psychosocial factors were among the nine risk factors identified for acute heart attack. Neglecting of depression, health and often bad eating habits, smoking, obesity, lack of exercise also lead to heart disease.

During the covid pandemic, the mental health of many people had deteriorated, which has also affected the heart. Due to covid, the cases of heart attack have also increased a lot. The virus also led to blockage in the arteries of the heart. Because of this, the heart has difficulty in pumping blood and people have heart attacks.

Things to be taken care:

- don't take mental stress

- exercise daily

- don't drink and smoke

- include protein and vitamins in the diet

- decrease fat and carb intake