Stress and Your Heart

More research is needed to determine how stress contributes to heart disease — the leading killer of people around the world. But stress may affect behaviors and factors that increase heart disease risk: high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity, and overeating.

Research shows how stress can lead to heart attacks and stroke. Feeling constantly stressed could increase your risk of heart and circulatory disease, according to news coverage. ... The researchers, from Harvard University, suggested stress could be as important a risk factor like smoking or high blood pressure.