Tandra's statement about how constant stress can trigger acute coronary events is completely true. There are many explanations for why stress may be directly linked to coronary heart disease. First, let's look at what coronary heart disease is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'?Get the original essayCoronary artery disease is a condition in which a waxy substance, called plaque, builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to our heart muscles. When plaque builds up in the arteries, it is called atherosclerosis. Plaque buildup occurs over many years, as has been studied in numerous researches. Coronary heart disease has many symptoms. One of the main types of symptoms is called angina. This symptom includes chest pain and indigestion, heartburn, nausea and many more. There are approximately 3 types of angina. The first would be stable angina. In this type of situation, the discomfort usually lasts for a short period of time. The second type would be unstable angina, caused by blood clots in the coronary artery. And the last type would be variant angina, which occurs at rest and is usually severe. There are also other symptoms such as shortness of breath (dyspnea) and heart attack. Now let's move on to the causes of coronary heart disease. There are two main types of causes of coronary heart disease. These are physical factors and psychosocial factors. First, let's briefly analyze the physical factors. These are high cholesterol intake and high blood pressure, which will be discussed later showing their connection with stress, smoking, thrombosis and excessive alcohol consumption. All of these factors cause damage or injury to the inner layer of a coronary artery, sometimes as early as childhood. For example, a high cholesterol intake would damage the inner lining of an artery (coronary artery). Once the inner lining of an artery is damaged, fatty deposits (plaque) made up of cholesterol and other cellular waste products build up at the site of injury in a process called atherosclerosis. The surface of the plaque breaks or ruptures, blood cells called platelets clump together. on site to try to repair the artery. This clump blocks the artery, leading to a heart attack. There are also, as previously mentioned, psychosocial factors that could cause coronary heart disease. These are depression, anxiety and all these could lead to one major cause, stress. Depression and anxiety are risk factors for morbidity in people with coronary heart disease. As mentioned earlier, stress is, in most cases, the ultimate cause of stress. First, let me explain how stress lasting too long is bad for our hearts. Stress increases blood pressure, which is not good for the human body to be constantly exposed to stress hormones. When a person is stressed, hormones such as cortisol are released to reduce our stress levels. However, having high stress levels could very well result in levels of cortisol being released higher than we need. When there is excess cortisol, more platelets form in our coronary arteries. As I mentioned earlier, a higher level of platelets in the artery could cause a blockage in the artery preventing blood flow, which.