Study finds men and women respond differently to mental stress, women are the ones who have it worse

Oct 13, 2014 19:03 GMT  ·  By

Evidence obtained while monitoring over 300 individuals undergoing treatment for heart disease indicates that women and men respond differently to mental stress, and that the former are the ones who have it worse.

Thus, in a paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, specialists explain that mental stress causes men to experience symptoms such as shifts in blood pressure and heart rate.

Women, on the other hand, are more likely to suffer decreased blood flow to the heart and to develop clots following periods of intense mental stress. What's more, they have higher chances to experience negative emotions.

Researchers concluded that mental stress affects women differently than it does men after asking study participants to complete three mentally stressful tasks and a treadmill exercise test, and keeping tabs on their overall health conditions during the entire time of the experiments.

In light of these findings, specialists with the Duke Heart Center in the US recommend that doctors treating people diagnosed with one cardiovascular disease or another take a patient's gender into account when assessing their overall health condition.

“The relationship between mental stress and cardiovascular disease is well known,” study lead author Zainab Samad said in a statement, as cited by Eurek Alert.

“This study revealed that mental stress affects the cardiovascular health of men and women differently. We need to recognize this difference when evaluating and treating patients for cardiovascular disease,” he added.