I thought I was having a heart attack - and I was only 39 y.o.
The role of mental health in cardiac health.
I remember the night clearly. I was on vacation, relatively relaxed (or as relaxed as one can be with two young kids). Lying in bed, I could feel my heart beating. To be honest, I had never really noticed my heart beating – it was just something I took for granted, something that our bodies do automatically. I tried to slow down my breathing. When that didn’t work, I tried not to pay attention to it. However, as I already knew, trying NOT to pay attention to something surely guarantees you are going to notice it even more. The more you try to fall asleep, the harder it becomes!
I knew something was wrong, so I went to the ER.
I was eventually cleared of an MI (myocardial infarction) and told to follow up with my doctor. Unfortunately, my then primary care doctor attributed my symptoms to anxiety and suggested that my age and gender made a cardiac cause unlikely. I was told that a cardiology referral wasn’t necessary.
At the time, I knew that family history matters as three of my grandparents died in their early 60s. I knew I needed to listen to my intuition.
Knowing my family history didn’t make me anxious, it made me attentive. I met with a cardiologist, who eventually diagnosed me with mitral valve prolapse and PVCs (premature ventricular contractions). While these are not life-threatening conditions, they can, over time, lead to ventricular hypertrophy, which is a thickening of the heart that can make it work harder over time.
The risk factors for PVCs include alcohol use, smoking, illicit drug use, caffeine, anxiety, coronary artery disease, congenital heart defects, heart failure, and for some people, exercise. After several tests and a full workup, doctors were able to rule out many of these factors.
This was my a “wake up call.”
I didn’t think of myself as anxious; but I definitely was “stressed.” I was juggling work and home life, constantly rushing around, making sure everyone’s needs were met. I was functioning. I was productive. I was showing up for patients, my family, and my friends.
As a woman, I was ignoring what my body was quietly signaling to me. As a psychologist, I could explain stress beautifully. I see how people normalize stress. We call it life, when in fact chronic stress can be dangerous. Stress doesn’t just live in the mind; it settles into our bodies and shapes our physiology over time.
I started to take more proactive steps to lower the risk factors that I could control. I monitor my cholesterol and blood pressure. I make better choices about what I eat. I participated in an 8-week intensive Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program. A recent study shows that Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction, an MBSR program specifically for lowering blood pressure, reduced systolic blood pressure among participants (Loucks et al. JAHA. 2023). Their findings also highlighted the important role of psychology and mental health in cardiovascular health.
The conversation around heart health MUST include a focus on emotional well-being.
First, let’s start with reframing:
Doing more is not always better
Rest is important and preventative, not earned
It’s okay to set boundaries and say no
Allowing and acknowledging emotions instead of managing or suppressing them
This American Heart Month, my hope is that women are encouraged not just to monitor their hearts, but to listen to them.
Head over to my IG @kimbaronpsychology for my post on Small Daily Practices to support Heart Health.
xo, kim
*This post is for educational purposes only and reflects my personal experience; it is not a substitute for medical advice.
