Managing Emotional Stress: 7 Tips To Help You Deal With Anxiety And Depression After A Heart Attack

A heart attack is a physically and mentally stressful event. People who have suffered from a heart attack need time to recover on both levels, and it’s perfectly normal for them to feel anxious about this happening once again. Unless the treatment plan is carefully followed, a heart attack is very likely to occur once more, eventually leading to heart failure.

1. Talk to your doctor

Plenty of overwhelming emotions can emerge after you've suffered a heart attack. Survivors have described feelings of anger, depression, anxiety, sadness, melancholy, guilt, confusion, and more.

The intensity and duration of these feelings will vary from one survivor to another. However, when any of these emotions linger for more than two weeks, talk to your doctor. Even if these feelings are natural, having them for extended periods of time can negatively impact your recovery.

2. Loneliness can trigger another heart attack

Heart attack survivors who live alone or feel lonely after the event are more likely to end up having another heart attack. That means that support given by family and friends is a very important part of the recovery process. Whenever possible, try to spend time with your loved ones so you focus less on negative emotions, and live and enjoy the moment.

3. Learn to self-assess depression

A lot of people say they feel depressed and overuse the term without fully understanding what it means. Depression is a serious illness that leads to an increasing number of suicides. If you’re not sure that your negative emotions are part of an episode of depression, try to ask yourself the following questions.

• Am I always making up excuses not to go out?
• Have I been losing my appetite lately?
• Am I having difficulties concentrating?
• Have I recently been consuming more alcohol than usual?
• Have I taken drugs, sleeping pills, or sedatives that were not necessary?
• Have I felt sad and miserable?
• Do I lack the will to pursue my hobbies or the things I used to enjoy up until now?
• Am I avoiding my family and my friends?
• Am I sleeping too much or barely getting any sleep at all?

4. Engage in activities

One of the best ways to overcome periods of depression and anxiety is to always keep your mind on something else. And the best way to do that is to engage in activities that won’t make you think about your heart attack.

Don’t be afraid to rearrange your schedule and leave more free time for your hobbies. The more time you can spend doing group activities, the better. Have friends over to play board games, pick up gardening, or learn a new language. do whatever it takes to keep yourself happy and avoid having your mind racing to the negative event.

5. Attend therapy

If you are part of a cardiac rehabilitation program, you most likely have the option to attend counseling. If you’re not part of a cardiac rehabilitation program, joining one could benefit you both physically and a mentally.

Alternatively, you can see a therapist regardless, because seeking help is no shame at all. More and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of therapy. During your therapy sessions, you will be able to understand more about where your depression and anxieties are coming from, and talking about it out loud with a specialist will help you identify certain triggers and discover how to avoid them.

6. Exercise more often

When you’ve suffered a heart attack, it’s most likely because you have cholesterol-related problems. You will have to pay close attention to what you eat, watch your levels of stress, and exercise more. As you know, obesity is one of the main risk factors for heart disease, so watching your weight is important.

But exercising can do so much more than just help you lose extra pounds:

• It can give you an activity to help pass the time and forget about your heart problems.
• It can keep your heart healthy and gives you a boost of energy.
• It can help you make new connections and meet new people (especially if you attend classes at a local gym).
• It can boost your serotonin levels, making you a happier person overall.
• It can give you personal satisfaction to know that you are actively contributing to a healthier lifestyle.

7. Talk to the people you love

Loneliness intensifies all other negative emotions, and some people who survive a heart attack feel like the people around them couldn’t understand what they’re feeling. While this is true to some extent, that doesn’t mean that talking about this fear won’t render understanding and support from your loved ones. It will help you a lot to hear that people are by your side, they care about what you’re going through, and are willing to help you with whatever it takes.

Conclusion

Having a bunch of negative emotions after having suffered from a heart attack is a normal part of the healing process. However, it’s not uncommon for feelings of anxiety and depression to take over, in which case it’s important to know how to identify and manage them. Whatever it is you might be feeling after such an event, the more you avoid talking about it and fall in a whirlwind of negative emotions, the harder your recovery process becomes.