What HIGH CORTISOL Does To Your HEART is Shocking

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Your stress levels could be quite literally about to give you a heart attack or another devastating cardiovascular event. We see this all the time as doctors. Acute stress. It might be a reaction to something causing a surge of cortisol and adrenaline. And I'm sure we don't need to tell you how damaging this could be. But I would say all the time as a hospital doctor, I encounter situations where an acute stressful event causes a dramatic acute health problem. And I know you do as well, Dr. Ben. And we're going to talk about stress and also its inevitability in today's world, but also how to better manage those stresses that are going to keep coming your way. Dr. Ben.

[00:00:49]>> Well, it's absolutely true. We do know that early morning heart attacks and severe events are more common because of that cortisol surge in the morning. We do know about things like broken heart syndrome because of the profound amount of stress hormones that are released when somebody's grieving and can cause a heart attack in that situation. So, it's a really it's a very real phenomenon.

[00:01:12]Having severe levels of emotional stress affect your health and also chronic levels of stress can be very very detrimental to your health. Now I want to talk about something very interesting. Dr. Dan here introduced me to meditations a book by Marcus Aurelius the famous Roman emperor who is a fascinating human being. And a lot of the book is really about how to let things go and the fact that there are so many scary stressful things in life that are going to come at you. Not the least of which is the prospect of death, which he even puts in its place and talks about ways to understand that that is inevitable and coming and there are ways to make peace with it, just like there are ways to make peace with almost everything and to work really hard to destress and accept the world for what it is. And it's absolutely fascinating.

[00:02:06]It certainly helped me.

[00:02:07]>> Yeah, I'm glad. And yes, I agree.

[00:02:10]Emperor Marcus Aurelius, one of the most fascinating people in history, and his book, which was written almost 2,000 years ago, meditations, is amazing. It's not the easiest book to to read. Uh, but even if you want to go online and read or listen to some of his quotes, there are a lot of motivational videos out there, Marcus Aurelius quotes about life and the inevitability of many things happening and his stoic philosophy. He is one of the most famous stoics out there. Stoicism, a philosophy which I'm a huge fan of. Learning to distinguish between that which one controls and that which one doesn't control because a lot of the stresses out there are due to factors outside of our control. When you look at it logically, there is no point getting stressed over things you have no control over. But we are all human and we have our slip ups. So stress is absolutely everywhere and I want to dive into this more because in so many ways we are much more comfortable than at any point in human history when you look at what our ancestors went through famines wars 100 years ago the great depression being drafted having family members being drafted to go fight with a a fair chance that they're not going to come back and we have to ask ourselves why in this world where we have so many comforts are people arguably more stressed than back then when they didn't live in a world where they were constantly plugged in. They would get news alerts once a day and that's it.

[00:03:45]They were living as human beings. And we've created this environment for ourselves and it's got exponentially worse because of social media as well and being plugged into electronics.

[00:03:56]Don't underestimate how much that is affecting you. If you are somebody that is wired to your technology, hopefully you're not. Big issue, isn't it, Dr. Vent?

[00:04:07]>> Well, I think one of the problems, too, is just like what you talked about daily comfort. So, I think we took away a lot of the activities that were necessary to make food, bake bread, you know, clean the yard, things like that that people ended up actually enjoying and they were very physical and they were moving a lot and they were thinking a lot. If you take all these away, if you automate all these tasks, I think what you end up finding is a lot of these things we end up losing. And they were I I know that there are a number of patients I see that they love mowing the lawn, they love weeding the garden, they love doing these things that sometimes, you know, we we have other people that do it or or we stop doing it because it's inconvenient. I think the more that we automate everything and the more convenient we make life sometimes the more sedentary and kind of uninterested we become in in daily life and that's a real shame.

[00:05:06]>> That's correct. Yes. And I always advise if you know that being plugged into the algorithms is a problem for you and we're finding this increasingly actually in people in their 60s7s 80s because the algorithms are wired to keep feeding you stuff that is going to make you have an emotional reaction. It's going to give you all of those stories. Switch off your phone for dedicated periods during the day. Put it in put it on silent. Put it in a different room. just get away from that world so you can be more more present. And let's be realistic here. I mean, stress is going to be there. It's part of the human condition. You need stress and you need goals, but not letting it affect your health is paramount. I don't think there are many things that are worth letting affect your health. And I I heard something put very well by a very wise lady. She was pro probably in her late 60s at the time. and she said, "I thought when the kids grow up, when they move out, that life would be much less stressful, but I have realized with age that there's always something to be stressed about.

[00:06:10]I'm just as stressed now as before. I found something else to take its place."

[00:06:14]And this is something that we all have to address. We have to take a step back and think, are we stressed constantly?

[00:06:21]Elevated cortisol and adrenaline, could it do really bad things to us? But also, and this is getting back to stoicism, is there a situation where you keep responding in the same way? Whether it's the behavior of somebody else, maybe a friend, a family member, or a reaction to a particular news story, are you stuck in a repetitive cycle where it's like stimulus response? Yes, that person does something. I'm going to get stressed. I'm going to get worked up.

[00:06:48]Going to get angry. That's what we want to guard against because that is when especially with each passing year, you're more at risk of suffering. An acute heart attack or a stroke may not happen immediately, but it can happen within 24 hours of that surge of stress hormone.

[00:07:04]>> No, I I absolutely agree with you. I mean, in the end, your job is just to live and try to be healthy and try to be as kind to yourself and the people around you as you can. You know, it makes me think of a quote by do that was the mass of men that live in quiet desperation. And I think that's a really good example of many of us. We try to achieve all these material things. We try to compare ourselves to our neighbors and the people around us.

[00:07:33]Instead of just living and enjoying nature and enjoying the world around us and I think when you can calm everything down and make it simpler, life is better.

[00:07:42]>> Yeah. I always advise 30 to 60 minutes a day. If you don't already have this habit, you must have something that is going to unplug you and take your stress hormones down. And this is unique to everyone. Please do comment down below what works for you. Is it a walk in nature? Is it meditation? Is it time with friends? Is it a hobby? For me personally, I enjoy my time at the gym, an intense 1h hour workout. I'm listening to a podcast. Then at the end, I'm listening to some music and I come out sweating and I I don't feel stressed anymore after that. I really have a big boost and I know pretty much whenever I go to the gym, as long as I go through my usual workout, I'm going to come out feeling really less stressed. I'm going to have answers to question. I'm going to be feeling generally positive about things. Maybe that works for you. Maybe it's something else. Dr. Ben, what works for you? What's your stress relief?

[00:08:37]>> I like cooking. I like focusing on that actually. Okay. And um you know, a lot of people tell me gardening too. I have a ton of patients that talk about it because you focus on it. You're moving a lot. You're getting up, you're bending down, you're using muscles, and it's something you can really focus on. So, I think that kind of thing, just like exercising, is very important.

[00:08:58]>> Yeah. I've also encountered many people who say gardening works for them. And I would say it's not just the act of being physically active and moving and bending and stretching. It's probably being outdoors. And there's something about human beings. We are wired for for nature as well.

[00:09:14]>> I agree.

[00:09:15]>> Well, I didn't know that about you, Dr. Ben, cooking. So, the next combined video we do, >> this man, Dr. Ben, is going to cook for me and Dr. Peter.

[00:09:22]>> If you enjoy it so much, why not do it?

[00:09:25]You know, we get the food and you are less stressed.

[00:09:27]>> I'll make you guys.

[00:09:28]>> We're going to do that. We're going to do that.

[00:09:30]>> Well, thank you everybody for watching.

[00:09:32]We are wishing you the lowest of stress levels. It's not possible to have zero stress, but recognize if this is a problem for you because we don't want this to affect your health. It's simply not worth it. You can't control many external events. You cannot control the behavior of others. All you can do is be a shining example. So, thank you everybody for watching. Again, do leave a comment down below. Let us know what works for you to relieve your stress in this crazy modern world. Also check in the links down below for our natural health and wellbeing store which we are very excited to be expanding. Oh highwwellness.com if you're in the USA, North America, ohighwwellness.co if you're in the UK, Europe. And also check out our partnership with Holland and Barrett, one of the UK and Europe's leading natural health brands. Take care everyone. Keep going on your health journey. We're rooting for you to succeed and we will speak to you in the next