Other studies have shown that anger increases heart rate and raise blood pressure, both of which can contribute to heart attack. Job stress increases atherosclerosis . Finnish researchers surveyed 591 employed, middle-aged men about their workplace stress and gagued their amount of atherosclerosis using an ultrasound exam of their carotid arteries, the ones that carry blood up to the brain. Four years later, the researchers repeated the ultrasound exams. Those whose arteries had narrowed the most were the ones under the most stress at work.
Job stress doubles risk of heart attack .
If you've ever been fired from a job, perhaps you've wished ill on your ex-boss. Your wish has been granted. In the week after they fire or lay off an employee, managers more than double their risk of heart attack. That's what Dr. Mittleman found in a recent study of 800 people who had had heart attacks. Compared with the general population they had 2.2 times the normal risk of heart attack in the week after firing or laying off an employee, and 2.3 times the risk during the week after a high-pressure deadline.