Many scientists now believe that anger, depression, and other forms of mental distress can help ignite heart disease.
These hormones — and other substances released by a body under stress — affect the supply of blood to the heart muscle, increase the clotting of blood particles, and limit the blood flow in the coronary vessels, which may result in the build-up of a blood clot.
As reported in The Lancet, the people who were most prone to anger were nearly three times as likely as the cool-headed subjects to have a heart attack in those six years.
Researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute tracked 222 heart attack survivors and found that those suffering from depression were roughly six times as likely as others to die within six months of their attack.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in three survivors slips into major depression at some point during the year following a heart attack.
