Heart attacks can happen to anyone it is a fatal condition that could cause serious harm to your mental health and make you lose your life. Mental health can affect a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well being which is an important part of your mental health. How we think, feel act and make decisions with out lives greatly affects your mental health.
Heart diseases such as heart attacks are common in those who are suffering from depression than the general population. This leads to smoking, high blood pressure and extensive stress which results in many heart conditions.
Depression can affect a patient with heart disease. Which decreases the ability to recover and raises the chance of developing new heart diseases.
A person who has suffered a heart attack may not feel the same after they have recovered as they will feel begin to develop psychological symptoms after going through the phase.
Anxiety and depression are some of the mental health symptoms related to heart diseases which can have a cause and effect on how you act, think or feel. It can come and go but will have a long lasting effect on your wellbeing.
Anxiety can become difficult to control. Too much stress on a person can increase the heart rate making it difficult to handle the situation they are currently in which can lead to sudden heart disease and cardiac arrest.
How heart diseases affect a person?
Many people who have had a heart attack or are traumatised or left hopeless as they may feel they would not recover from it. Heart failure can affect a person in many different ways.
The consequences of heart failure, such as shortness of breath, fatigue and swelling are noticeable. The emotional symptoms are difficult as the toll on your heart is weakened.
It can become difficult for many individuals who have serious heart conditions to cope with having a normal life as they may see change in their behaviour or their thought process. It’s difficult for to prove that heart diseases are a cause for the development of depression.
Depression may not be noticeable until the individual visits their GP or hospital for heart problems.
Heart attack’s can worsen a person’s condition, it can affect many other aspects of a persons life. This may include a change in their attitude or behaviour, becoming uncertain about the future or feeling guilty about habits that may have led to a heart attack.
A person may feel embarrassed or have self doubt about what they can or cannot do after they have suffered a heart attack. This means the individual may not understand or question whether they would be able to perform daily activities or exercises.
People who suffer from depression or are recovering from a heart attack have a lower chance of recovery and a higher risk of death than those who do not suffer from it.
Decrease in motivation can lead to skipping important heart exercises and proper diet techniques which increases smoking and drinking habits.
In order to prevent heart attacks from affecting your mental health you would need to control what you eat, exercise more and keep positive.
Heart disease and mental health on women
There are many side effects and symptoms that women may experience when they suffer from a heart disease. Such as:
- Pain or discomfort in the upper body
- Shortness of breath
- Vomiting or sweating
- Heartburn
- Dizziness
These symptoms are likely to occur in women more than in men. This is because most heat diseases differ in both men and women.
Women will likely experience these symptoms when they are resting, asleep or dealing with emotional stress which can trigger heart attack symptoms.
If you feel you may have symptoms of heart attack then it is important to seek medical attention immediately. You can do this by dialling 999 or visiting your GP.
There are many heart disease risk factors that can occur for women such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity. which can develop different types of heart diseases that could potentially ruin your life.
Other factors may include diabetes which is a high level of sugar intake that could develop heart disease. This can happen in men too. Diabetes can change the way in which women can feel pain as there is a chance of suffering from an increased risk of a silent heart attack.
Emotional stress and depression are more affected by women than men. Depression can make it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and adhere to treatment recommendations for other illnesses.
In women, smoking is a larger risk factor for heart disease than in men. This is because a woman may have a weak immune system and cannot handle the smoke within their body.
Heart attacks and mental health in men
After a heart attack or surgery, it’s common to feel depressed and worried especially when hearing about your heart disease. These emotions may be the cause of not knowing what to expect. Especially when completing or performing daily activities or duties.
Feelings of sadness are normal and temporary and should gradually fade away as time passes by. This would help you to get back into your normal routine and activities much easier.
Resting and taking antidepressants could be a useful way to get rid of negative feelings. It is best to think positive and talk to someone about your health problems.
However, being depressed might make it difficult to live a regular life. Treatment may be required in order to help you recover whenever your depression gets too much for you. This may include taking antidepressants or other medications that are effective for your mental health.
Mental stress is the main cause and reason why particular mental health diseases occur. It can become too much for a patient with heart disease as they may be experiencing many symptoms. This may decrease their chances of surviving.
