Your cholesterol levels can go up because of stress and anxiety. High cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease by clogging the arteries and decreasing blood flow to the heart. The combination of stress, anxiety and cholesterol can lead to negative or positive results, depending on how you handle these factors. Experiencing stress and anxiety may alter your daily activities, including the way you eat. Bad dietary habits may compound negative feelings from stress and anxiety. Healthy eating can help you confront your problems.
Negative Effects
Anxiety often results from stress. Under stressful conditions, such as family problems, job concerns or financial difficulties, you may become nervous or worried about the results of unresolved situations. Your anxiety can help you overcome these matters by enabling you to work toward a resolution. Excessive worry or fear can lead to imagined dangers and cause unhealthy anxiety disorders when negative feelings become ongoing. Physical reactions may result and include weakness, trembling, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, nausea and stomach discomfort.
Anxiety Outcome
Anxiety has been associated with high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Heart patients have a poorer response to treatment and a worse outcome from heart surgery when they experience anxiety and depression.
Stress Reaction
University College London researchers measuring cholesterol levels and responses to stress tasks by 199 healthy middle-aged adults over a three-year period found that stress can raise cholesterol levels, Medical News Today reports. People with larger stress responses during the beginning of the study had significantly higher cholesterol levels than those who had small stress responses after the three-year follow-up, according to the study published in the November 2005 issue of "Health Psychology."
Dietary Benefits
People respond to stress and anxiety differently. Those who risk high cholesterol or heart disease from problems won't necessarily be cured from stress and anxiety through diet, but healthy eating can make people feel better to improve their moods, notes MayoClinic.com. Whether your high cholesterol results from your response to stress and anxiety or from unhealthy eating, practicing a healthy, low-fat diet helps reduce stress, anxiety and cholesterol.
Eating Patterns
Eating small, frequent meals instead of two or three large meals a day helps with digestion. This avoids stomach discomfort and weight gain, which can raise cholesterol levels. Limiting saturated fats in your diet reduces cholesterol. Saturated fats come mainly from animal foods, including meat, poultry and dairy products. Choose lean meats, poultry without fatty skin, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread, cereal and pasta, during your meals. Have a breakfast each morning that includes fruit, vegetables or low-fat yogurt to help your body prepare for any stress you may encounter when you start the day.
