Stress Management and Heart Health: Everything You Need to Know

Ever come across situations where you are extremely overwhelmed. Your hormones speed up your heart, you start breathing faster, have palpitations, and experience a sudden burst of energy. This is the way your body reacts to stress. Though stress can be useful at times and help you achieve things by making you work harder, if this stress prolongs for a long time or happens too often, it can have negative implications. Symptoms in the form of frequent headaches, poor sleep, upset stomach, back and body pain, can take place. It can weaken your immunity, making it difficult for your body to fight against disease, giving rise to numerous lifestyle ailments such as heart issues, cancer, hypertension, and many more.

Stress can have serious consequences on your heart and health by increasing the plaque rate and block your arteries. This results in cutting off of blood flow to your heart by constricting arteries. This can trigger chest pains or even a heart attack. Further, many people choose to drink or smoke to “relieve” or “manage” their stress, which in the long run too can increase blood pressure and harm the heart. Cardiovascular ailments caused by stress are one of the largest killers in the world; therefore, having a mediclaim insurance that offers you coverage for this has become necessary.  

Stress comes in many forms which can take a toll on the heart. This can range from workplace stress, financial stress, disaster-related stress, personal stress, and so many more. 

Though the best medical insurance plans offer you security from financial risk that you may incur in an unfortunate event of stress-related diseases, there are numerous measures of stress management which you can follow too. Stress management is not only beneficial for your overall health but also is effective against heart disease.  

Some of the popular stress management techniques adopted worldwide are: 

1. Exercise
   Indulging in regular physical exercise is one of the best ways to manage stress. Physical activity releases positive hormones to alleviate stress and improves your overall health.
2. Proper Sleep
   Lack of sound sleep can affect your mood, alertness, and energy level. It can keep you feeling tired all day long and worsen your physical health
3. Meditation
   Proper meditation and breathing techniques can largely facilitate stress relief. Yoga, pranayama, and guided meditation all offer relaxation methods that can keep you calm and reduce your stress.
4. Practice Time Management
   Learning new techniques to manage your time efficiently can help you better balance your work, family and other demands.
5. Pamper yourself
   Taking some time out for yourself to do something that you enjoy is not only important but also imperative for your mental balance. Treat yourself to a massage, listen to some soothing music or take a walk amidst nature. You may even indulge in your favourite hobby, which will help you calm and unwind. 
6. Share your feelings
   Expressing yourself and your emotions is one of the best and most effective methods of releasing your stress. You can either jot your thoughts out in your journal or diary or speak it out with a close confidante or friend. Further, talking, crying, laughing, simply letting out all your emotions is a great way of stress management.
7. Confront the situation head-on
   Another way to deal with your stress is to confront the issue at hand head-on. Many times, coming face to face with the problem we are dealing with is the only solution, which can help you relieve yourself of the stress.
8. Approach a counsellor
   If you are unable to manage the stress you are undergoing, you should seek professional help. Assertive communication with a counsellor can help you express yourself in a tactful and thoughtful way.

Further, purchasing health insurance plans in India can safeguard you and your loved ones against the financial implications of a medical emergency and help manage the stress arising from the ill-health of a family member.

A healthy mind is a gateway to a healthy heart. And adopting various stress management techniques can help you in achieving the calm and mental well-being you would want during a stressful period. Know more about PNB MetLife Mera Mediclaim Plan which is combination of Health insurance + Life Insurance. 

Visit website to know more on Mera Mediclaim Plan, term plan and term insurance.

Whether you are trying to lose weight or making a shift towards a healthy life, understanding your BMI (Body Mass Index) is one of the first necessary steps you can make. The BMI calculator can indicate your body’s fat content based on your weight and height. Once you have a clear view of this, you can go through different health insurance plans on the PNB website and secure your future financially against the growing healthcare costs.