Stress management is more effective than exercise or usual cardiac care in preventing complications from heart disease, according to a new study.

Stress appears to play a role in heart disease and previous research suggests that stress management is beneficial to those at risk of heart attacks. Researchers at Duke University Medical Centre in the US now reveal the relative costs and long-term effects of stress management compared to exercising and the usual after-care for heart patients.

They looked at 94 men with heart disease and assigned them to either stress management, exercise, or traditional care. The first group received one and a half hours a week of training that helped them identify and deal with the various symptoms of stress. The exercise group did physical activity three times a week for four months. All the men were followed up for five years.

The stress management group did best of all - with far lower medical costs and a better clinical outcome. While the exercise and usual care group averaged 1.3 cardiac 'event' - need for bypass, angioplasty or having a further heart attack or death - the figure for the stress management group was just 0.8. It's a bit surprising that the exercise group didn't do better - maybe the men didn't keep up the exercise programme, the researchers suggest. Whereas if you really learn how to handle stress, the lessons tend to stay with you for life.

Source

American Journal of Cardiology January 15 2002