The Impact of Mental Health on Cardiovascular Disease
Hello, my name is Palki Mand and I am an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley studying Chemistry. This blog post is to inform the South Asian community, specifically our Sangat members, on how various cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes can affect one’s mental health. Tips and how to address this issue are discussed in the following post and using this, both the current and future generations will be benefited.
Heart Disease & Mental Health
When discussing common health disparities in the Punjabi community, discussions often revolve around heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure. Though these are critical issues, a rising concern is noted - the relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mental health. Recent research has demonstrated that mental health has profound effects not only on one’s heart health, but emotional well-being as well; and this connection is noted greatly in our sangar members given our higher rates of heart disease.
Based on this, there is rising evidence that reveals depression and anxiety are one of the most important factors causing cardiovascular diseases. This stress from long work days or family pressures has been raising the dangers of heart diseases. Because of this, people with these mental health issues are more than ever likely to overeat or do drugs, which obviously increases the risk of heart disease.
Why It’s Important for our Sangat
According to research done in the South Asian-Punjabi background, we are at a 50% higher risk of heart diseases in comparison to the relative population. This is a key alert for us to not only focus on exercise and eating healthy, but focusing on mental health. One of our prime cultural stigmas around mental health problems and why there is a lack of treatment is due to people not seeking help or pushing through their stress.
However, it is crucial for us as a united community to break these barriers and begin to foster mental health discussions.
