It's how you handle stress, not how much stress, that kills you

It is not how much stress or even how often you get stressed, it is all about how you handle it. Photo: AFP/Shutterstock

We know that stressful experiences are bad for health, but it is your reaction to stress – not how often you're stressed – that is more important to heart health, says a new study.

To study the effect of stress on heart health, researchers from Penn State University and Columbia University wanted to research further into the effect of daily stress on heart rate variability – the variation in intervals between heartbeats, which is linked to cardiovascular disease. Heart rate variability is important, explains Nancy L. Sin from Penn State, because "higher heart rate variability is better for health as it reflects the capacity to respond to challenges.