Your body's response to stress includes a faster heart rate, higher blood pressure and a faster rate of breathing. Stress hormones released by the body cause these changes. One effect of these stress hormones is to narrow your blood vessels. Narrow vessels cause more work for the heart. High stress levels raise your risk for high blood pressure and other conditions that can damage your heart and blood vessels.
Bad stress is a risk factor for the development of heart disease.
Decreasing bad stress controls this risk factor. You can learn to lower stress. First, you need to figure out the cause of your stress. Second, you need to change things that cause bad stress as much as possible. Third, you need to learn new ways to deal with stress in your life.