if stress isn't stressful enough, just understand that it's killing you too

as if stress isn't bad enough, it's killing you too. two studies recently show links between stress and cardiovascular disease. the first article with the extra-cute title, "social connections: could heartwarming be heart-saving?" discusses how people with more friends live longer. people who are more isolated have a higher risk of heart disease, while those with plenty of friends have healthy hearts (get it? hearts.. friendships.. hearts...).

the second article is even more interesting, linking discrimination of african-american women to increasing coronary artery calcification, which means higher cardiovascular disease. these two studies of social stressors are part of a larger scientific discovery of more general stresses affecting the heart. in the words of tené lewis, "we know from other studies in this area that stressful life experiences can have an effect on cardiovascular outcomes."

these kind of articles are really humorous to me: you go to the doctor telling him you're stressed out, and he tells you "not only are you stressed out, but if you keep it up you're going to die soon."