OPEN YOUR HEART TO BETTER MENTAL HEALTH

WRITER: BEE GREENE

Mental health affects heart health, both in terms of your risk of developing heart disease and your ability to get well after a heart attack. It should come as no surprise that depression often occurs in people who have a heart attack, but mental illness also doubles your risk of heart disease, according to research from the Canadian Community Health Survey.

Approximately 15 to 20 percent of people hospitalized with a heart attack develop major depression, and many others develop mild depression. Women are more likely to be depressed following a heart attack than men, and younger women are most likely to experience depression. It can affect your ability to care for yourself. People who are depressed may find it more difficult to muster the energy to exercise and make dietary changes and may not take medications regularly.

Mental health disorders linked to heart disease include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, anxiety, and bipolar or manic depressive disease. PTSD may develop after a major serious illness— such as a heart attack—and affects as many as 7 million adults in the United States.The risk of developing a heart attack is twice as high for those with a mental disorder at any point in their lives than for those who are mentally healthy.

Your mental health doesn’t just affect your risk of heart disease. The same conditions that cause heart attacks can also cause strokes and are also linked to the risk of stroke. People with mental disorders at any point in their lives double their risk of stroke compared to those who are mentally healthy. Those who take psychiatric medications such as antidepressants, mood-stabilizers, and anti-psychotics have three times the risk of a stroke compared to those who do not need such medications.

What’s the connection? Mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, and other mental illness affect the hormonal systems in the body. Stress hormones increase, which cause blood pressure and heart rate to go up. Blood vessels constrict, which also affects blood pressure. This fight-or- flight response may become chronic, damaging blood vessels and making the heart less sensitive to chemical signals to slow down or speed up when the body’s demands change.

No one is saying that having mental illness directly causes heart disease or stroke. However, people who deal with mental illness may self-medicate with substances such as tobacco or alcohol, which are connected to heart disease and stroke. Mental illness may cause an individual to develop an eating disorder and become obese—also linked to increased risks for heart disease. Some psychiatric medications cause weight gain. People with mental illness may find it more difficult to manage their health because of the symptoms of the disorder.

If you have a mental illness, get help and follow your doctor’s advice. If someone you love has mental illness, you may need to help out or even take charge. Mentally ill people may not realize how important it is to follow their doctor’s instructions, and you may need to provide the extra support to help them stay healthy.

• Always watch kids around water

• Fence all pools

• Stay away from drains

You never know which step might save a life, until it does.