OPINION:
Fear of the Islamic State is even worse than ISIS itself. Terror breeds worry — a cruel beheading and a heroic pilot who is burned alive in a scene of public torture creates a tidal wave of public stress; many millions are horrified and worry they could be next. Video images amplify this worry, and stress hormones soar. When we are anxious we don’t sleep well, which extends the cycle of worry into the following day.
It is February, which is national heart month in the United States, and the one thing that puts our hearts in jeopardy the most is anxiety. This is difficult to prove, though stress has been shown to raise blood pressure, which leads to heart disease, and to change in the way the blood clots, which does, too. A recent study from Israel, which looked at more than 17,000 men and women from 2002 to 2011, found that there was a significant increase in heart rate and an increased risk of dying in those who lived in fear of terror. Seminal research from Dr. Elizabeth Phelps at New York University had previously shown that subjects watching violent acts go through similar physiologic changes as if they had experienced the violence themselves.
With more than 600,000 people dying of heart disease every year in the United States, the last thing we need is more worry and more stress. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women, with women being more at risk after menopause, when the protective effects of estrogen wear off.
Constant exposure to horrific video images of ISIS killers invoke cruel killings of the recent past. We connect voyeuristically to the news and may experience a sense of impending doom ourselves. This doom may translate to angina or a heart attack, and we may not even be aware of it. The signs of an impending heart attack may be subtle — it may not be sudden crushing chest pain or left arm tingling. Women are less likely to experience the classic symptoms of a heart attack and are more likely than men to just feel out of sorts. Heart attacks may present with fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath or even dizziness.
How do we prevent this from happening? It is easy to say but difficult to do. Avoid obsessive TV watching and repeated exposure to these horrific images. Exercise regularly. Eat a diet rich in fruit, grains and vegetables and low in fats and carbohydrates. Don’t be sedentary. If you want to keep up with the news, do it while exercising.
If we must be voyeurs of the news, it is far healthier to relate to the courage shown by the Jordanian military, who attacked ISIS to avenge the brutal burning of their pilot, than to relate only to the victim. As Psalm 27:14 in the King James Bible says, “Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.”
Remember, the main tool of terrorists is fear, not bombs or guns. Terrorism is a psychological weapon that can have a major physical impact. Though the Islamic State is a horrific, inhuman machine of killers, heart disease is much worse. We are millions of times more likely to have a heart attack worrying about ISIS than to be attacked by an ISIS fighter. And if we have a heart attack over obsessive concern about ISIS, al Qaeda or any terrorist group, then the terrorists win.
• Marc Siegel, a physician, is a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Medical Center. He is the author of “False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear” (Wiley, 2006), and is a Fox News medical correspondent.
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