U.S. Cities with the Highest Heart Disease Rates Have High Black Populations

In the United States, heart disease is the top killer, leading to 610,000 deaths a year, or one in every four fatalities. Blacks have the highest rates of heart disease in the U.S. – over 40% of Blacks have heart disease.

Recently heart health writer Hristina Byrnes wrote an article listing the cities with highest rates of heart disease. To identify the heart disease capitals in the United States, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the largest 500 cities in the country. 

The 20 cities listed are those where at least 7.5% of people over 18 years of age report having been told by a health professional that they had angina or coronary heart disease in 2015. 

Additional data came come from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, and the Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey.

Below is the listing of the top 11 cities with heart disease, out of these eleven cities 81% had Black populations of over 40%, six of the cities had Black populations over 54%.

Flint, Michigan

> Heart disease incidence: 8.7%
> Current lack of health insurance: 21.8%
> Smoking: 31.5%
> Obesity: 42.0%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 18.9%

> Black population 57%

The lead contamination crisis in Flint may help partially explain why the city has the highest share of heart disease incidence of any major city. Chronic exposure to lead and higher concentrations of lead in blood cause hypertension, ECG abnormalities, peripheral arterial disease, and cardiovascular disease. Flint has the highest rates of arthritis (34.9%), asthma (13.4%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (10.9%), and smoking (31.5%) - all of which significantly increase the risk of heart disease.

2. Detroit, Michigan

> Heart disease incidence: 8.6%
> Current lack of health insurance: 23.6%
> Smoking: 31.4%
> Obesity: 45.1%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 18.7%

> Black population 84%

Among the 500 largest U.S. cities, Detroit has the third highest adult diabetes rate, the second highest arthritis and obesity rates, and the highest rates of high blood pressure and smoking. Also, Detroit is No. 2 in people with asthma, which has been linked to a 57% higher risk of heart disease.

3. Reading, Pennsylvania

> Heart disease incidence: 8.6%
> Current lack of health insurance: 31.5%
> Smoking: 26.3%
> Obesity: 43.8%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 19.4%

> Black population 9%

Of the seven cities in Pennsylvania on the list, Reading is the only one where the rate of heart disease went up between 2014 and 2015, although by just 0.1 percentage point. The city's problems with heart disease extent to wider health issues. Among Reading adults, 19.1% report at least 14 days of poor health per year, the highest share of all 500 cities in the database.

4. Youngstown, Ohio

> Heart disease incidence: 8.5%
> Current lack of health insurance: 21.0%
> Smoking: 30.6%
> Obesity: 40.6%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 18.7%

> Black population 45%

Youngstown was No. 1 on the list of cities with the highest rates of heart disease in 2014. The slight improvement of 0.1% brought it down to fourth place a year later. A combination of several factors associated with heart disease help keep the city in the top five, including a high rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, at 10.8% of adults - the second highest among the 500 largest U.S. cities. COPD is linked to a higher risk of heart conditions due to elevated pulse rates during both rest and exercise.

5. Dayton, Ohio

> Heart disease incidence: 8.4%
> Current lack of health insurance: 17.1%
> Smoking: 27.5%
> Obesity: 39.7%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 17.7%

> Black population 43%

Cardiovascular disease accounts for 37% of all deaths in the state, compared with a quarter of deaths nationwide. The Ohio Department of Health supports several initiatives to reduce the risk, and they may have been a factor in the positive effect between 2014 and 2015. All nine cities in Ohio on the list had a decrease in the incidence of heart disease. Dayton's share fell by 0.2 percentage points, which was not enough to keep the city from having one of the five highest shares among the nation's major cities.

6. Gary, Indiana

> Heart disease incidence: 8.3%
> Current lack of health insurance: 23.3%
> Smoking: 26.9%
> Obesity: 45.2%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 18.3%

> Black population 81%

Of all 500 cities on the list, Gary has the highest rate of diabetes - 18.4%; the second highest stroke rate among adults - 5.9%; and the third highest rate of people with high blood pressure. Hypertension can lead to hardened arteries, stroke, or heart attack because the force with which the heart is pushing blood through arteries is too high.

7. Camden, New Jersey

> Heart disease incidence: 8.3%
> Current lack of health insurance: 30.3%
> Smoking: 26.8%
> Obesity: 40.9%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 19.4%

> Black population 42%

In Camden, 41.8% of adults have high blood pressure, the ninth highest share among major cities and well above the 29.4% of American adults who do. Almost 45% of adults in the New Jersey city don't exercise in their spare time -- the highest rate of lack of physical activity on the list. Also, Camden has the second highest rate of adults with diabetes. The city is also in the top 10 for obesity among adults.

8. Cleveland, Ohio

> Heart disease incidence: 8.2%
> Current lack of health insurance: 19.9%
> Smoking: 28.3%
> Obesity: 40.1%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 17.9%

> Black population 53%

Cleveland has a high rate of adults who have had a stroke - 5.3%, the sixth highest share among major cities. Also, many city residents smoke too - 28.3%, the fourth highest share. High blood pressure is also very common in the city - almost 69% take medication for it, the ninth highest share among major cities.

9. Macon, Georgia

> Heart disease incidence: 7.9%
> Current lack of health insurance: 25.5%
> Smoking: 25.8%
> Obesity: 41.2%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 17.9%

> Black population 68%

Macon is in the top 20 for many health conditions that pose a high risk for developing heart disease. One that particularly stands out is stroke. Close to 6% of the adult population have had a stroke, the third highest rate among the 500 largest U.S. cities. Stroke is associated with coronary heart disease because both share common risk factors, such as high LDL (bad) cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and being overweight.

10. Canton, Ohio

> Heart disease incidence: 7.7%
> Current lack of health insurance: 15.7%
> Smoking: 27.8%
> Obesity: 38.3%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 16.6%

> Black population 24%

Canton also has a high proportion of adults with arthritis the sixth highest on the list but it also has a large number of people smoking over 10%, the fourth highest rate. Smoking is a major contributor to coronary heart disease because the chemicals in the smoke cause the blood to thicken and form clots, blocking circulation.

11. Birmingham, Alabama

> Heart disease incidence: 7.6%
> Current lack of health insurance: 19.8%
> Smoking: 24.6%
> Obesity: 42.7%
> Adults who report poor physical health: 16.4%

> Black population 74%

About a third of adults in Birmingham have arthritis. Similarly to heart disease, arthritis is an inflammation process. This is why people with arthritis are at a greater risk of developing heart disease, including irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, heart failure and plaque in the arteries. More than half of premature deaths in people with rheumatoid arthritis result from cardiovascular disease.

Over Half of All African-American Adults Will Have Hypertension With New Diagnostic Guidelines

*Info from American Heart Association

Well over half of all African-American adults will be classified as having high blood pressure under new streamlined diagnostic guidelines illuminating the heavy burden of cardiovascular disease in the population. 

Anyone with blood pressure higher than 130/80 will be considered to have hypertension, or high blood pressure, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology stated Monday in releasing their new joint guidelines. That changes from 140/90, where the diagnostic guideline had been since 1993.

“Rather than one in three U.S. adults having high blood pressure (32 percent) with the previous definition, the new guidelines will result in nearly half of the U.S. adult population (46 percent) having high blood pressure, or hypertension,” the groups stated.

With the change, it is estimated that 59 percent of all African-American men will be classified as having high blood pressure, up from 42 percent. Fifty-six percent of African-American women - who had the highest rate previously at 46 percent - now have high blood pressure. Forty-seven percent of white men and 41 percent of white women have high blood pressure.

“Earlier intervention is important for African-Americans,” said Dr. Kenneth A. Jamerson, a guideline author, cardiologist and professor of cardiovascular medicine with the University of Michigan Health System.

“Hypertension occurs at a younger age for African-Americans than for whites. By the time the 140/90 is achieved, their prolonged exposure to elevated blood pressure has a potential for worse outcome.”

Heart disease also develops earlier in African-Americans and high blood pressure plays a role in more than 50 percent of all deaths from it. African-Americans have a higher rate of heart attacks, sudden cardiac arrest, heart failure and strokes than white people. 

In addition, the risk for African-Americans is 4.2 times greater for end-stage renal disease, which often progresses to the need for dialysis multiple times a week and ultimately to kidney transplantation or death.

“Hypertension has been a blight on the African-American community for many, many years. It’s time for us to get over it,” said Dr. Kim Allan Williams Sr., chief of cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “People need to get screened and get care.”

The new guidelines are expected to offer new ways for medical providers to work with patients, who will be asked to modify their lifestyle by quitting smoking, drinking no alcohol or moderate amounts, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

“You may not have to take a pill,” said Dr. Jamerson. “These discussions are more work for a provider, but it’s great for the patient. They’re brought into the process.”

If medicine is needed, the new directions are to treat earlier and more aggressively to get blood pressure into the normal range right off the bat. “Our data shows controlling early works,” Dr. Jamerson said.

That’s different from the old-school way of prescribing one drug and slowly upping the dose or adding other meds if the patient doesn’t reach the target.

The guidelines also offer race-specific treatment recommendations by addressing drug efficacy in African-Americans. The guidelines point out that thiazide-type diuretics and/or calcium channel blockers are more effective in lowering blood pressure in African-Americans when given alone or at the beginning of multidrug regimens.

Dr. Jamerson said there is no downside to more aggressively treating high blood pressure from the start. “If one takes the long view, then everyone should appreciate this approach,” he said. “The cost of medications to treat more people is small when compared to the cost of a stroke, cardiovascular disease or heart failure. It’s a no-brainer.”

Blacks Heart Illiteracy and its Contribution to Our Extremely High Rates of Heart Disease

by Kenny Anderson

The Heart is part of our body’s cardiovascular system, an organ system made up of the atria, ventricles, valves, and blood vessels that allows blood to circulate and transport nutrients (such as amino acids and electrolytes), oxygen, carbon dioxide, hormones, and blood cells to and from the cells in the body to provide nourishment and help in fighting diseases, stabilize temperature and pH, and maintain homeostasis.  

From my perspective one of the major factors that contributes to the extremely high rates of heart disease amongst Blacks is due to our ‘heart illiteracy’, that results in Blacks taking their most powerful life sustaining organ for granted - neglecting their heart!

As Black folks we definitely need to increase our knowledge of a heart healthy lifestyle, however we also need to increase our literacy of heart physiology and functioning, the following are 20 facts about the heart:

*The ancient African Egyptians were the first to depict a religious judgment day scene where the heart was weighed against a feather. The earliest known case of heart disease was identified in the remains of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummy. Ancient Egyptians believed that the heart and other major organs had wills of their own. 

*The first open-heart surgery occurred in 1893. It was performed by Daniel Hale Williams, who was one of the few Black cardiologists in the United States at the time. 

*Dr. Charles Drew – a Black man invented a way to process and preserve blood plasma, allowing it to be stored and shipped for blood transfusions. Until then, blood was perishable and not fit for use after about a week. Drew's invention vastly improved the efficiency of blood banks. 

*The heart is the first organ developed in the fetus and begins beating at four weeks after conception and does not stop until dead. The fetal heart rate is approximately twice as fast as an adult’s, at about 150 beats per minute. By the time a fetus is 12 weeks old its heart pumps an amazing 60 pints of blood a day. 

*The human heart weighs less than 1 pound, it’s the size of an adult fist. A man’s heart, on average, is 2 ounces heavier than a woman’s heart. A woman’s heart beats slightly faster than a man’s heart. 

*The beating sound of your heart is caused by the 4 valves of the heart opening and closing. 

*The average adult heart beats 72 times a minute; 115,000 times a day; 3,600,000 times a year; and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime. The heart can continue beating even when it’s disconnected from the body. 

*The volume of blood pumped by the heart can vary over a wide range, from five to 30 liters per minute; your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day. 

*The heart pumps blood to almost all of the body’s 75 trillion cells. Only the corneas receive no blood supply. Five percent of blood supplies the heart, 15-20% goes to the brain and central nervous system, and 22% goes to the kidneys. 

*A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime. 

*During an average lifetime, the heart will pump nearly 1.5 million barrels of blood - enough to fill 200 train tank cars. 

*If you were to stretch out your blood vessel system, it would extend over 60,000 miles. 

*An electrical system controls the rhythm of your heart. It’s called the cardiac conduction system. Because the heart has its own electrical impulse, it can continue to beat even when separated from the body, as long as it has an adequate supply of oxygen. 

*The heart does the most physical work of any muscle during a lifetime. The power output of the heart ranges from 1-5 watts. While the quadriceps can produce 100 watts for a few minutes, an output of one watt for 80 years is equal to 2.5 gigajoules. 

*Every day, the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. In a lifetime, that is equivalent to driving to the moon and back. 

*The heart has approximately 60 times greater electrically and up to 5,000 times stronger magnetically than the brain. 

*Scientific research has shown that the heart itself has an intelligent system - has its own brain. Studies indicate specifically how the heart sends more information to the brain than vice versa. 

*Most heart attacks happen on a Monday and Christmas day is the most common day of the year for heart attacks to happen. 

*It’s possible to have a broken heart; it’s called broken heart syndrome and can have similar symptoms as a heart attack. The difference is that a heart attack is from heart disease and broken heart syndrome is caused by a rush of stress hormones from an emotional or physical stress event. 

*Laughing and meditative deep breathing is good for your heart, both reduce stress and gives a boost to your immune system.

Air Pollution Takes Greater Toll on the Hearts of Black Americans Than Whites

by Steven Reinberg

A new study reports that air pollution takes a greater toll on the hearts of black Americans than whites, in part because they often live in poorer areas with more pollution.

"The greater risk of death from heart disease among blacks, compared with whites, is partially explained by higher exposure to air pollution," said lead researcher Dr. Sebhat Erqou, a fellow in cardiovascular disease at the University of Pittsburgh.

The western Pennsylvania study looked at the relationship between heart disease and a component of air pollution known as fine particulate matter. Fine particulate matter (called PM2.5, which is about 40 times smaller than the width of a human hair) stems from factories, vehicles, power plants, fires and secondhand smoke.

Researchers found that blacks living in areas where this type of pollution is high have a 45 percent higher risk of heart disease and death from any cause than whites, even after taking into account other common risk factors.

But about one-quarter of that elevated risk was attributed to their greater exposure to dirty air, which correlated with poverty, Erqou said.

Blacks and other minorities more often live close to sources of environmental pollution, such as highways, the researchers said in background notes. As income and education increased, the impact of air pollution decreased, Erqou said.

Chronic exposure to air pollution has been associated with numerous ill effects, included elevated blood sugar, poorly functioning blood vessels, heart disease and death, he noted.

This study reflects, again, racial disparities that exist in medical outcomes, said Dr. Rachel Bond, associate director for women's heart health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"Air pollution clearly has a detrimental effect on the black community disproportionate to the white community with respect to cardiac disease outcomes," said Bond, who was not part of the study.

Another New York specialist who was not involved with the research pointed to the broad role economic differences can play.

"Exposure to air pollution may be more of a factor of socioeconomic status than race itself, and there may be confounders such as smoking history, home environment and occupation, which can affect health," said Dr. Walter Chua. He's a senior pulmonary attending physician at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills.

For the study, Erqou and colleagues reviewed data on PM2.5 and black carbon, which is an ultrafine component of PM2.5, from a Pittsburgh-area air monitoring campaign.

The researchers combined that with information from an ongoing heart study involving more than 1,700 residents (average age 59) of western Pennsylvania.

Each year, participants complete questionnaires that ask about heart-related hospitalizations, heart attacks, acute coronary syndrome, stroke, angioplasty or death from heart disease.

Erqou's team found that greater PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased blood sugar, worse blood vessel function, and higher odds for problems such as heart attack and stroke, and death from all causes.

The investigators also found that compared with whites, blacks had significantly higher average exposures to PM2.5 and black carbon.

A weakness of the study is that it's limited to one city, so the findings might be different in other locales, Erqou said. Also, the study only found an association rather than a cause-and-effect link.

Chua said it would be interesting to look at other major cities, including New York and San Francisco, to see if these disparities still exist, given that those cities are more diverse, he said.

Meanwhile, "the push to maintain good air quality should still continue," Chua said.

Cigarette Smoking Raises Heart Failure Risk in African-Americans

by Anne Harding

Cigarette smoking sharply increases the risk of heart failure in black men and women in the U.S., according to a new study by senior author, Dr. Michael E. Hall, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

“These findings suggest if you have heart failure or you have risk factors for heart failure such as early markers for heart damage like a thicker heart or a weak heart, you should specifically be targeted for smoking cessation strategies,” said the study’s senior author Dr. Hall.

In heart failure, the muscles of the heart weaken and enlarge so the organ can no longer pump blood efficiently, leading to shortness of breath and water retention. Heart failure is most often the result of damage from coronary artery disease, a buildup of fatty material within the heart arteries associated with heart attack and stroke. High blood pressure, excess weight, infection and several other factors can also contribute to heart failure.

Cigarette smoking is clearly associated with coronary artery disease, but its relationship with heart failure is not as well known, especially among African Americans, Hall’s team writes in the journal Circulation.

Blacks in the U.S. have double the incidence of heart failure as other groups, the researchers note. While smoking in this community has declined, it is still at 18 percent of adults, they add.

To investigate the potential role of smoking in heart failure risk, the researchers analyzed data on 4,129 black adults in Mississippi who participated in the Jackson Heart Study. Their average age was 54, and all were free of heart disease when they enrolled. Twelve percent reported being smokers, 18 percent were ex-smokers and 70 percent had never smoked.

Compared to never-smokers, the smokers had more enlargement of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, and worse left ventricular function. Levels of a hormone released by the heart that indicates heart failure, called brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), were higher in smokers than never-smokers, and those levels increased with the intensity and duration of smoking.

Once the authors took factors associated with both smoking and heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, into account, they found that smokers were almost three times more likely than non-smokers to be hospitalized for heart failure during eight years of follow-up.

People who smoked at least 20 cigarettes a day saw their risk increase about 3.5-fold. Those who had smoked the equivalent of a pack or more a day for 15 or more years were twice as likely as never-smokers to be hospitalized for heart failure.

Physicians will typically ask patients with coronary artery disease about smoking, and urge them to quit if they do, Hall said in a telephone interview. But heart failure seems to be a less obvious cue to many doctors.

“We probably in the health community need to do a better job of recommending cessation strategies for people who have risk factors for heart failure,” Hall said. “If they have risk factors, they should be strongly counseled to quit, that should be a no-brainer.”

He acknowledged that lack of health insurance and other factors can be barriers to effective smoking cessation treatment. But the costs of drugs proven to help people quit have declined, Hall noted, and many are now available for less than a pack-a-day smoker spends in a month on cigarettes.

In future research, he and his colleagues plan to examine whether newer nicotine delivery devices, like e-cigarettes, have similar effects on the heart. 

Heart Health Disparities Takes a Toll on African-Americans

by Will Boggs, MD

African-Americans have worse cardiovascular health and more deaths from heart disease than other groups, at least partly from less effective disease prevention and management efforts, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).

“While African Americans are more likely to experience many cardiovascular diseases, in particular strokes and heart failure, they are also more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases,” Dr. Mercedes R. Carnethon from Northwestern University Preventive Medicine in Chicago told Reuters Health by email.

Because African Americans develop nearly all cardiovascular diseases - heart attack, stroke, and heart failure - at a relatively young age, she continued, “higher rates of death may arise from the length of time that African Americans live with these conditions.”

“Interrupting this process by preventing the early onset of cardiovascular diseases is one strategy to reduce disparities in cardiovascular disease mortality,” she said.

Traditional cardiovascular risk factors - high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and atherosclerosis - are more common and start at earlier ages among African Americans, Carnethon and colleagues report in the journal Circulation.

Unfortunately, not much has changed since 2005 when a special issue of Circulation pointed out disparities in the rates of cardiovascular disease, disease management, and outcomes for African-Americans.

Many of the differences arise from unhealthy behaviors, lower implementation of guidelines shown to improve cardiovascular health, ingrained cultural preferences and attitudes, and lack of persistence in following lifestyle changes that need to be lifelong, the research team writes.

African Americans also have higher rates of certain health conditions that predispose to cardiovascular disease - such as chronic kidney disease, sickle cell disease/sickle cell trait, and HIV, for example.

Genetic differences between African-Americans and other ethnic groups appear to explain only a small part of the disparity in cardiovascular disease rates and outcomes.

Finding strategies that reach younger African-Americans and men with disease prevention messages remains a significant challenge, Carnethon’s team notes.

“Cardiovascular diseases are preventable with healthy lifestyles,” she said. “Unfortunately, many African-Americans do not have equal access to the resources needed to lead healthy lifestyles, specifically access to healthy foods, safe spaces for physical activity, and peaceful homes and communities that promote restorative sleep.”

“Despite the strides our country has made in broadening access to healthcare, many African-Americans, particularly those in lower income groups, are still unable to afford and prioritize preventive care visits,” she said.

Dr. LaPrincess Brewer from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who has worked to promote cardiovascular health in African-American communities, told Reuters Health by email there’s a need for “culturally relevant, community-based cardiovascular health interventions that focus more on positive motivation towards promoting cardiovascular health rather than the negative impact of cardiovascular disease.”

“By increasing awareness of this enduring and colossal issue, we can then in turn empower African-Americans to play a role in improving their own cardiovascular health in tandem with their healthcare providers and social support networks,” she said.

“The AHA Life’s Simple 7 provides an evidence-based, advantageous framework to increase population-wide awareness among African-Americans,” she said.

Clinicians, researchers, public health practitioners, social services, and community stakeholders must work together “to develop an effective approach to improve cardiovascular health among all Americans,” Brewer said.

Brewer says "it will take a concerted effort to address not only the high burden of traditional risk factors among African-Americans, but also the plethora of social and environmental contextual barriers faced by this population.”

Black Chronic Stress and Heart Disease

by Kenny Anderson

Blacks are the most stressed population in the US and have been since slavery. Many studies show that just living under the constant stress of racism alone takes a tremendous health toll on so many Black people.

This constant stress is known as 'chronic stress' - the response to socioeconomic pressure suffered for a prolonged period of time that causes emotional distress, accelerated health decline, and the perception in which an individual perceives they have little or no control: 'a sense of powerlessness, defeatism, and fatalism'.

African Americans suffer more chronic stress which includes unending feelings of despair/hopelessness, anger, shame, worry, and grief; poverty, family dysfunctional stress, early childhood traumatic experiences, experienced and perceived racial discrimination, neighborhood stress, daily stress, acculturative stress, and environmental stress.

In her book, ‘Environmental Stress and African-Americans’, author Grace Carroll states that race is brought to the consciousness of African Americans every day through interaction with employers, service providers, landlords, the police, and the media.

Carrol says the stress experienced by Blacks merely as a result of being African American causes 'micro-aggressions' that include experiences such as being denied service, being falsely accused, being negatively singled out on account of one's race - 'Living While Black' (LWB).

Carroll labels the stress that results from such micro-aggressions as Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress (MEES) - which she says is a daily experience, has a significant impact on one's psychological well being and world view, is environmentally induced, and is detracting and energy consuming.

Arline Geronimus a professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan echoes Carroll by stating the stress of living and working in a race conscious society slowly wears down Black people from all walks of life.

From Geronimus perspective racist stress, coupled with poverty, eventually erodes Blacks mental and physical health, a gradual process that she calls ‘weathering’. This daily weathering results in depression, substance abuse, suicide, strained relationships, and frustration that leads to misplaced Black-on-Black violence.

Stress and Heart Disease

Since African Americans suffer the most from chronic stress it should not be a surprise that we have the highest heart disease rate in the US. 

Our body’s response to stress is supposed to protect us, however if it is constant – chronic it harms us. The hormone cortisol is released in response to stress; studies suggest that the high levels of cortisol from long-term stress can increase blood cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. 

Chronic stress constantly raises the levels of cortisol creating inflammation that prevents cholesterol from freely moving throughout the body resulting in it accumulating in artery walls. 

Moreover chronic stress causes changes in immune cell genes, researchers found that chronic stress changes gene activity of immune cells before they enter the bloodstream so that they’re ready to fight infection or trauma - even when there is no infection or trauma to fight. This then leads to increased inflammation.

The changes in immune cell genes was seen in mice, as well as in blood samples from people with poor socioeconomic statuses (a predictor of chronic stress), reported the researchers from Ohio State University, the University of California, Los Angeles, Northwestern University and the University of British Columbia.

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers looked at blood samples from both the stressed mice, as well as humans who came from differing socioeconomic statuses. 

Just like in the mouse part of the experiment, 387 genes were identified that had differences in activity between the people who came from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those who came from high socioeconomic backgrounds. And just like in the mice, the up-regulated genes in those who came from low socioeconomic backgrounds were pro-inflammatory.

Even minor stress can trigger heart problems like poor blood flow to the heart muscle. This is a condition in which the heart doesn't get enough blood or oxygen. And, long-term stress can affect how the blood clots, this makes the blood stickier and increases the risk of stroke.

In a 2014 study conducted by a University of Pittsburgh researcher Dr. Peter Gianaros found that negative stressful emotions contributes to hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) by raising the levels of inflammatory causing chemicals in the body.

Recent research led by Dr Ahmed Tawakol of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2017), shows chronic stress can lead to the over-production of white blood cells, which can form plaques in the arteries and lead to heart disease.

Tawakol advocates that chronic stress should be treated as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease like other major cardiovascular disease risk factors. 

African Americans with heart disease must start managing our stress just like we are told to manage the other major heart disease risk-factors: high blood-pressure, diabetes, and weight (obesity). 

Stress Management

As Blacks being up under so much pressure reducing stress in our everyday lives is vital for maintaining our overall health and quality of life; improving our mood, boosting our immune functioning, promoting longevity, and allowing us to be more productive. 

When we let constant stress get the best of us, we put ourselves at risk to finding relief in negative coping mechanisms 'addictions' of all types and developing a range of illnesses from the common cold to severe heart disease. 

The following are four healthy techniques that psychological research has shown to help reduce stress in the short and long-term:

Tip 1: Deep breathe - as soon as you become stressed breathe deeply because it lowers stress in your body by sending a message to your brain to calm down and relax.

Tip 2: Identify your stress - this will help identify how much stress you are under and ways to reduce stress in your life.

Tip 3: Be assertive - when you have too much unnecessary pressure demands coming at you from others just say no!

Tip 4: Take a break from the stress - when you step away from a stressful situation you let yourself have time to do something else 'debrief', which can help you have a new perspective or practice techniques to feel less overwhelmed.

Humming for Stress Relief

During the dark days of slavery our Ancestors particularly our foremothers hummed everyday for stress-relief 'soul-comfort'. 

12 instant benefits of humming (Carole Fogarty): 

1: Humming grounds and brings you back to your center; it helps settle the feeling of being restless or scattered on the inside.

2: Promotes clarity of thinking by refreshing your mind. You can physically feel the vibration of the “hum” clear out the cob webs.

3: Has a very relaxing and soothing effect on your neck, face, head and shoulder muscles, which helps dissolve stress. 

4: Humming reduces the number of thoughts that fill your head. When you are humming there is little room for over thinking.

5: Humming puts a smile on your face. 

6: Humming slows down your breathing rate significantly. Dr. Kataria’s research shows, we normally breathe 15-17 times in a minute but with humming you can bring it down to 4-6 a minute which helps to slow down your heart rate and brings down your stress level.

7: Helps dissolve unproductive thinking. If you are having a bout of negativity, jump straight into a few rounds of “hmmmm” and notice a shift in your thinking.

8: Calms your nervous system as it activates the parasympathetic nervous system.

9: Dr. Kataria firmly believes it helps those with insomnia or restless sleep patterns, and perfect for inducing a deep sleep without dreams (the best kind of sleep).

10: “Humming creates a wonderful circuit of energy in your body re-vitalizing its cells and charging its chakra’s” as quoted by Deva Premal

11: Improves sinusitis. The vibration helps shifts and clears pathways and blockages.

12: Lowers blood pressure as proven by Dr. Kataria. 5 minutes of humming can reduce your blood pressure between 10 – 20 mmHg.