Election Stress Linked to Arrhythmias, Heart Attacks — SkimNews
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Rosman found a 77% higher rate of irregular heartbeats during the six weeks around the 2016 election than during a control period among people with known rhythm disorders and implanted cardiac devices.
- The 2016 North Carolina study found similar arrhythmia patterns across age, sex, race, other health conditions and party affiliation, with Democrats and Republicans experiencing similar risk.
- Mefford found heart-attack hospitalizations significantly higher immediately after the 2020 election than during the same five-day period two weeks earlier, in a cohort that included people with and without prior heart disease.
- Social-media saturation can add to the political-ad exposure studied in 2016, while acute stress raises adrenaline, reduces calming vagus-nerve activity and alters the heart’s electrical activity, making abnormal rhythms more likely in people already prone to them.
- Cardiovascular disease affects nearly half of U.S. adults, including high blood pressure; Rosman said the election findings apply most directly to people at higher cardiac risk, while cardiac events can also occur in people without known heart disease.
- The 2016 and 2020 retrospective studies establish an association between election exposure and adverse cardiovascular events, not cause and effect; Mefford said people respond to stress at different intensities and thresholds.
- Rosman and Mefford recommend limiting news and social media, especially before bedtime, prioritizing sleep and physical activity, taking medications, and using meditation, yoga, walking or hiking to manage stress.
Why it matters: For the nearly half of U.S. adults with cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, the 2016 six-week election window was associated with a 77% higher arrhythmia rate, while post-2020 heart-attack admissions were significantly higher. Because Democrats and Republicans had similar risk, the recommended stress-management steps apply across party lines.
Ask SkimNews
