The number one killer of more than 50% of the nation can be caused by worrying about money.

The report shows, for women, financial strain can lead to more than double (65%) the risk of heart attack.

The landmark study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Adversity and Cardiovascular Disease (Nurture Center) at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco.

It was one of the first of its kind, as most of the heart related studies that dealt with stress were focused on men. “Much of the prior research related to negative life events was done in persons who have a history of heart attacks and in men,” said Michelle A. Albert, M.D., M.P.H., who was the senior study author.

Albert said, “It is important to assess these relationships in middle-aged and older women, as this age group is more susceptible to heart disease as they age and are likely to live longer with disability.”

As Newsmax writes:

The study was based on answers from 26,763 women who participated in the national Women’s Health Study. They were asked questions about negative events that had occurred during the previous five years, such as being fired from a job, financial strain, legal problems, an unfaithful spouse, a life-threatening illness, or death of a loved one.

Three of those events — life-threatening illness, death of a loved one, and financial strain — were classified as traumatic. The women were then followed for an average of nine years.

Financial problems were found to be an even bigger risk to heart health than the death of a loved one or a life-threatening illness. Women whose households made less than $50,000 a year, which is above the federal poverty level, were more vulnerable.

Albert commented,  “We don’t know whether women are more physiologically vulnerable, as some prior research suggests that decreases in blood flow to the heart caused by acute mentally-induced stress is more common in women and individuals with less social support… at the biological level, we know that adverse experiences including psychological ones can lead to increased inflammation and cortisol levels.”

“However, the interplay between gender, heart disease and psychological factors is poorly understood.”

Since heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death for women, there are many corollaries that can be extrapolated from this research.

Anything you can do to reduce the factors in heart disease are to be recommended.

Talk soon,     

Dr. Wiggy
www.HealthAsItOughtToBe.com