Cut Stress, Help Your Cholesterol
Cut Stress, Help Your Cholesterol
Stressed Out? Better Relax for Your Cholesterol's Sake, Study Shows
Nov. 22, 2005 -- How you handle stress could affect your cholesterol levels, for better or worse, according to new research from London.
No one knows exactly how it works. But in a nutshell, the findings go like this:
More information on common Cholesterol drugs from RxList:
If you melt down under pressure, letting stress run amok, your cholesterol may worsen more in a few years compared with people who don't get bent out of shape by stress.
The study by Andrew Steptoe, DSc, and colleagues from University College London appears in Health Psychology.
The study included nearly 200 middle-aged government workers in London.
Both men and women participated as part of a long-term health study. Virtually all were white. None had a history of coronary heart disease or high blood pressure.
First, participants gave blood samples and rated their stress level. Then, they took two stress tests.
One test mismatched words and colors. For instance, the word "blue" was written in yellow type. Participants had to name the color in which the words appeared (yellow, in our example).
In another test, participants were under a deadline to trace the outline of a star in a mirror. Accuracy was emphasized, but participants were told that on average, people traced the star five times per test.
Afterwards, participants gave more blood and rated their stress levels again. Three years later, another cholesterol check was done.
Cholesterol rose for everyone, to some degree, immediately after the stress test and three years later.
Those with the biggest cholesterol increases after the stress tests tended to have the biggest rises in cholesterol after three years.
The researchers set high, medium, and low thresholds for total cholesterol at the three-year follow-up. Those hitting the high threshold included:
No differences were seen in results for men and women, the researchers report. They adjusted for factors including body mass index (BMI), smoking, hormone therapy, and alcohol use (but not diet).
Cut Stress, Help Your Cholesterol
Stressed Out? Better Relax for Your Cholesterol's Sake, Study Shows
Nov. 22, 2005 -- How you handle stress could affect your cholesterol levels, for better or worse, according to new research from London.
No one knows exactly how it works. But in a nutshell, the findings go like this:
Related Medications
More information on common Cholesterol drugs from RxList:
If you melt down under pressure, letting stress run amok, your cholesterol may worsen more in a few years compared with people who don't get bent out of shape by stress.
The study by Andrew Steptoe, DSc, and colleagues from University College London appears in Health Psychology.
Stress Study
The study included nearly 200 middle-aged government workers in London.
Both men and women participated as part of a long-term health study. Virtually all were white. None had a history of coronary heart disease or high blood pressure.
First, participants gave blood samples and rated their stress level. Then, they took two stress tests.
One test mismatched words and colors. For instance, the word "blue" was written in yellow type. Participants had to name the color in which the words appeared (yellow, in our example).
In another test, participants were under a deadline to trace the outline of a star in a mirror. Accuracy was emphasized, but participants were told that on average, people traced the star five times per test.
Afterwards, participants gave more blood and rated their stress levels again. Three years later, another cholesterol check was done.
Cholesterol, Stress Link
Cholesterol rose for everyone, to some degree, immediately after the stress test and three years later.
Those with the biggest cholesterol increases after the stress tests tended to have the biggest rises in cholesterol after three years.
The researchers set high, medium, and low thresholds for total cholesterol at the three-year follow-up. Those hitting the high threshold included:
- 16% of participants who had initially shown little cholesterol reaction to the stress tests
- 22% of those who had initially shown moderate cholesterol reactions to the stress tests
- More than half (56%) of those with the biggest initial cholesterol reactions to the stress test
No differences were seen in results for men and women, the researchers report. They adjusted for factors including body mass index (BMI), smoking, hormone therapy, and alcohol use (but not diet).