Compared to study participants with low cortisol levels, researchers found high level cortisol people were 5 times more likely die from a heart attack, stroke, or other heart diseases over six years of follow up. One clinic wanted to test the usefulness of the stress hormone test in response to this study and tested the cortisol levels of hair to determine any relation between cortisol and heart disease.

The results led researchers to believe cortisol levels were an important factor of heart risk, even more than high blood pressure and cholesterol. However, cortisol testing is still an inaccurate way because of many reasons. First, it is impossible to measure heart risk because there are no set cortisol levels to determine if a person’s heart is at risk for cardiovascular disease or not. Also, testing cortisol levels is an expensive and labor-intensive task. Lastly, there is no real medical proof if decreasing cortisol will improve heart health. Further research needs to be done, but the link between stress and heart disease remain stronger than ever.

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A new study shows people working 3 or more hours of overtime a day had a 60% increased risk of heart-related issues from angina to heart-disease related death. Even after taking into account other risk factors like smoking, obesity, and high cholesterol, the statistics still stands.

6,000 British civil servants were studied. For these workers, overtime was associated with type A behavior like aggression, hostility, competitiveness, psychological distress, and sleep problems. The participants were then entered into a larger, ongoing Whitehall II health study of London-based civil service workers.

Workers’ ages ranged from late 30s to early 60s at the time of enrollment. They were followed for an average of 11.2 years for overtime analysis. In the UK, one or two hours over a seven hour workday was considered normal and had little impact on heart health. However, working 10 or more hours a day increased heart risk to 60%.

Lead researcher Marianna Virtanen, PhD, says the risk is “moderate.” The results need to be replicated and then take into account other possible health outcomes like type 2 diabetes.  Yet, more and more research shows an increasing correlation between heart risk and working overtime.

Virtanen says what researchers should do now is determine if a shorter workday will affect the risk of heart disease.

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