Feeling Content Helps Shield You From Heart Attack, Stroke

Key Takeaways

• Contentment helps heart health
• People with a greater sense of satisfaction with their lives have a lower risk of heart problems
• This could be because people who are happy are more likely to adopt healthier lifestyles

Folks who are content with what they’ve got could be less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, a new study suggests.

“Our findings support a holistic approach to health care, where enhancing a person’s mental and emotional well-being is considered an integral part of preventing heart disease and stroke,” said senior study author Dr. Wen Sun, associate director of the Stroke Center at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, China.

“Health care professionals might consider including strategies to improve life satisfaction and happiness as part of routine care, such as recommending regular physical activities, social activities or stress management techniques as effective ways to enhance personal well-being,” Sun added.

For the study, researchers analyzed data gathered from more than 120,000 participants in the U.K. Biobank, a large-scale medical database.

Participants filled out questionnaires that assessed their well-being in terms of satisfaction with family, friendships, health, finances and general happiness. Researchers compared people’s well-being with their risk of four major heart-related diseases.

Results show that people with the highest well-being scores had:

• A 44% lower risk of clogged arteries.
• A 45% lower risk of stroke.
• A 51% lower risk of heart failure.
• A 56% lower risk of heart attack.

Further analysis suggested that people who feel more content tend to adopt healthier lifestyles and suffer less inflammation, researchers said.

“These results underscore the profound impact that emotional and psychological health can have on physical well-being, shedding light on intricate biological mechanisms that were not fully appreciated before,” Sun said.

The new study was published Sept. 18 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.035225

The author of a 2021 American Heart Association statement on the mind-heart-body connection, Dr. Glenn Levine, said the findings were “not unexpected,” but they help flesh out the link between mental health and heart risk.

“Much of the focus on psychological health has understandably been on negative factors such as depression and stress. This study emphasizes the importance of positive psychological health, including the more global factor of a person’s sense of well-being,” Levine, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, said in a journal news release. Levine was not involved in the study.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on positivity and heart health.

SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, Sept. 18, 2024

From www.healthday.com

Nyhetsinfo

Well‐Being and Cardiovascular Health: Insights From the UKBiobank Study

JinghuiZhong, MDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0280-1683, PanZhang, MDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6320-6987, YiranDong, MDhttps://orcid.org/0009-0000-0526-9218, YingjieXu, MDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4181-7450, HongmeiHuang, MD, RuidongYe, MD, PhDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0490-7331, XinfengLiu, MD, PhDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8182-9632Den här e-postadressen skyddas mot spambots. Du måste tillåta JavaScript för att se den., and WenSun, MD, PhD

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7268-2085Den här e-postadressen skyddas mot spambots. Du måste tillåta JavaScript för att se den.Author Info & Affiliations

Journal of the American Heart Association

New online

https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.124.035225

Abstract

Background

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading global health concern. Emerging evidence suggests a potential protective role of well‐being in reducing CVD risk.

Methods and Results

We conducted a cohort analysis using the UK Biobank data set, encompassing 121 317 participants. We assessed the well‐being of participants using a well‐being index derived from baseline questionnaires. Well‐being categories were derived by latent class analysis using general happiness and satisfaction with family, friendships, health, and finance situations.

The relationship between well‐being and 4 major CVDs was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models and Mendelian randomization. The study also examined the impacts of well‐being on lifestyle factors and inflammatory markers, and its mediating role in the well‐being–CVD relationship. Higher well‐being was associated with a significantly reduced risk of various CVDs. Latent class analysis identified 4 distinct well‐being groups (low, variable, moderate‐to‐high, and high satisfaction), with higher satisfaction levels generally associated with lower risk of CVDs. Mendelian randomization suggested potential causal relationships between well‐being and reduced risk of CVDs.

Participants with greater well‐being demonstrated healthier behaviors and lower levels of inflammatory markers. Mediation analysis indicated that lifestyle and inflammatory markers partially mediated the relationship between well‐being and CVDs.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates a robust inverse association between well‐being and the risks of CVDs, suggesting that enhancing well‐being may be a viable strategy for CVD prevention. The role of lifestyle factors and inflammation as a mediator provides insight into possible biological pathways linking psychological states and cardiovascular health.

Clinical Perspective

What Is New?

• The study establishes a strong inverse association between well‐being and cardiovascular disease risk, highlighting the protective effect of higher well‐being on conditions such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke.

• Mendelian randomization analysis supports potential causal relationships between higher well‐being and reduced cardiovascular disease risk, mediated by healthier lifestyle behaviors and lower levels of systemic inflammation.

What Are the Clinical Implications?

• Enhancing patient well‐being through targeted mental health and lifestyle interventions could significantly reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, thereby improving overall patient outcomes.

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