Tandra's statement about how constant stress can trigger acute coronary events is very true. There are many explanations for why stress can be directly related to coronary heart disease. First, let's see what coronary heart disease consists of. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Coronary heart disease is a disease 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, the condition is called atherosclerosis. Plaque accumulation occurs over many years, as studied in much research. Coronary heart disease has many symptoms that manifest. One main type of symptom is called angina. This symptom includes chest pain and indigestion, heartburn, nausea and many others. There are approximately 3 types of angina. The first would be stable angina. In this type of, the discomfort typically 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. Let us now move on to the causes of coronary heart disease. There are two main types of causes of coronary heart disease. They are physical factors and psychosocial factors. First, let's briefly review the physical factors. These are high cholesterol intake and high blood pressure, which will be discussed later, showing how it is related to 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, high cholesterol intake would cause damage to the inner wall of an artery (coronary artery). Once the inner wall of an artery is damaged, fatty deposits (plaque) made up of cholesterol and other cellular waste products build up at the site of the lesion in a process called atherosclerosis, the surface of the plaque cracks or ruptures, blood cells called platelets clump together at the site to try to repair the artery. This clot blocks the artery, causing a heart attack. There are also, as mentioned before, psychosocial factors that could cause coronary heart disease. They are depression, anxiety and all these could lead to one of the main causes, which is stress. Depression and anxiety are risk factors for morbidity in individuals with coronary heart disease. As mentioned above, stress is, in most cases, the ultimate cause that leads to stress. First, let me explain how excessive stress, for too long, is harmful to our hearts. Stress increases blood pressure, which is not good for the human body to be constantly exposed to stress hormones. When you are stressed, hormones such as cortisol are released to reduce stress levels. However, having high levels of stress could very well cause the levels of cortisol released to be 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 would eventually lead to coronary heart disease. Ultimately, stress changes the way blood clots, leading to coronary heart disease. There are also other, more psychological, ways in which stress could cause illness.