Recently I saw a cartoon where an anxious investor was slumped in his chair, surrounded by papers showing his poor profit figures. A doctor was telling him: ‘Don’t watch the news, don’t buy the papers, put your phone down the loo, throw out your computer and you will be better in a week.’  This advice isn’t far from the truth.

During a financial downturn, large corporations shed staff, and those who are still in employment may find their hours reduced and wages cut. This financial stress is one of the most significant triggers causing a person to suffer anxiety and depression.

Recession’s effect on the heart
Often, if I wake early I hear the wail of an ambulance siren and I think someone’s had a heart attack. This is because when we sleep our blood pressure and pulse rate reduce. Then, around 4am, the body pours out stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin to spike up the system for the new day and our blood pressure and pulse rate rise. But if a person already has high blood pressure and cholesterol, their arteries are inflamed and filled with cholesterol deposits. This early morning spike could be enough to rupture a plaque in the coronary artery, block blood supply to the heart and cause a heart attack.

Slowly but steadily, financial stress raises anxiety hormones in the same way, and heart attacks can happen morning, noon or night. Here’s how to protect your health during stressful times.

1. Take one step at a time
When things go wrong there are always personal recriminations. Why didn’t I start that savings account I always planned on before I was made redundant? Why didn’t I put my super into cash like my neighbour did?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if you let negative thoughts fill your day, your health may suffer. You need to tell yourself, what happened has happened, and there is no way you can change that. Instead, focus on making changes where you can and letting go of the things that you can’t control.

Start a list of goals, short and long term; they can be big or small; even something as simple as doing the housework can be written down as a goal. Cross off each task as you complete it. My mum has successfully used this technique for years since my father died at a young age, leaving her with three children. This takes the stress out of daunting situations.

2. Take a newsbreak
The advice dispensed by the cartoon doctor – to look the other way – may sound extreme, but there is some truth to the advice. By not exposing yourself constantly to bad news by reading papers, watching TV news and listening to radio reports on the economy, you can rest a little and reduce your anxiety.

3. Establish a routine
A daily routine is especially important if you have been made redundant. If you suddenly find you have too much time to think, here’s a plan:

• Get up and go to bed at your normal times.
• Think positive thoughts. It sounds silly, but the brain is like a train. If all the seats are taken by good thoughts, the bad ones don’t get a seat.
• Plan and list your tasks for the day. Throw yourself into them so you’re fully engaged.
• Always exercise.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re not alone; there are so many people who feel just like you do.

4. Move your body
Walking is the easiest form of exercise, and best of all, it’s free. It strengthens your heart muscle and helps blood flow better, reducing the risk of clots. Even if you have signs of blood vessel disease, the National Heart Foundation says a daily walk will reduce your risk of death from heart attack by 31 per cent.

Record your steps with a pedometer and build up to 10,000 steps a day. Exercise also stimulates production of serotonin, which acts as an antidepressant. And in addition, you’ll stay fit!

5. Watch your waist
It’s easy to eat comfort food if you’re feeling upset or anxious, but the consequences on the waistline are all too real and junk food is full of bad fats. Here’s the plan:

• Avoid processed and takeaway foods. They are full of saturated fat and other nasties.
• Go ‘Grandma’s Way’: that is, don’t eat anything your grandma wouldn’t recognise.
• Stick to lean meat, or trim fat off, and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegies.
• Drag out your slow cooker or casserole pot and make D’Arcy’s Resilient Family Dinner. Start with chicken thigh or chuck steak. Add tinned tomatoes, onion, frozen green vegies, herbs, a tin of beans and legumes; cook them up and you’ll have dinner plus leftovers.
• Forget the scales (your weight fluctuates daily); instead, measure your waist once a week. If it’s less than 80cm for women and 94cm for blokes, your heart risk decreases. If it’s larger, see your doctor or pharmacist.

6. Sleep tight
As we sleep, our bodies spend the seven to nine hours restoring structures that were damaged during the day and preparing the body for the rigours of the next. The feeling you get with quality sleep is like your mood on day three or four of a holiday, where the emotional churn of your workload has drifted away and you become more peaceful. If you are anxious, it’s almost impossible to reach this level of relaxation. If you’re having trouble sleeping, chat to your doctor.

7. Know your numbers
Prevention is better than cure: this old chestnut is particularly important when discussing heart health management. Which is why knowing your numbers, including your blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol figures, is so vital – these all indicate if there’s a potential risk of illness or heart disease. Work with your doctor to monitor these stats.

8. Take your medicine
Each year, 140,000 people end up in hospital because they muck up their medicines. When dollars are tight, many people are tempted to dump their medication or at least cut back – both options are bad for your health. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about generic drugs, which are often cheaper.

9. Monitor your mood
Tough financial times are trying for all of us and often we feel vulnerable, which leaves us open to slipping into a depressed state.  Research shows depression not only takes its toll on our mood, but it also plays a role in upsetting our heart health. In the United States, clinical depression, which is defined as severe depression lasting a significant amount of time, is diagnosed in roughly 10 per cent of physically healthy people.

However, more telling is the diagnosis of depression in 20 per cent of heart patients with no history of heart attack, and up to 65 per cent of heart patients who have had  a heart attack. While these statistics look at severe depression, research has also found even moderate levels of depression may be linked to high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack or stroke. Look after your frame of mind by:

• Not drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant and is loaded with kilojoules, so your mood and your weight will suffer.
• Not getting too anxious or agitated.
• Not sleeping too much or too little.
• Not losing interest in the things that usually bring you joy.
• See your doctor if you’re feeling a prolonged sense of sadness, a loss of concentration, a loss of interest in the things that bring you joy, acute sleepiness or anxiety.

10. Breathe…
Balanced diet, check. Walking daily, check. Avoiding negative news, check. Your protective heart health plan is on target, just one more thing: don’t forget to relax.

The simple – or in some people’s cases, not so simple – act of chilling-out can reduce the amount of stress hormones rushing about your body, which are causing spikes in blood pressure and increasing your risk of heart attack or stroke. Learn to bring calm into your life by practising deep breathing, yoga, meditation, exercising or listening to soothing music.