How Stress Can Cause a Heart Attack (And How to Heal) | Dr. Tara Narula

Lewis Howes (0:00)

You're not going to be yourself again. You're never going back to what you were.

That's Dr. Tara Narula. Now, if you're in the middle of something right now, maybe it's a diagnosis, a loss, a season that's cracked you wide open, and you don't know how to put the pieces back together, I want you to hear that quote one more time. Because it's not bad news, it's an invitation. You were never meant to go back to who you were before the breakdown. You were meant to become stronger after. In this episode, you're going to learn how one of the top cardiologists in the country discovered that most of her patients' heart problems actually started in the mind and the exact tools she now uses to build resilience to lower stress and heal the body by healing the mind first. Dr. Tara Narula is a board certified cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. Chief medical correspondent for ABC News and author of The Healing Power of Resilience. Welcome to The School of Greatness. Now, let's dive in with Dr. Tara Narula.

Of all the people that come into your office, all your patients, what is the number one reason they all come in your office and they all have a challenge or a problem they're trying to overcome? What is that?

Tara Narula (1:20)

Well, people obviously come to my office because I'm a cardiologist. They're concerned with their risk of cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, cholesterol. Maybe they've had a heart attack or a stroke or been diagnosed with heart failure. But usually, that's actually not what's top of mind for them. And that's what was really eye-opening for me, is that practicing year after year, day after day, when I would open the door and walk in and say, how are you? Which is always my first question to every patient. The answer I would get almost universally was, I am stressed, I am depressed, I am anxious, I'm just overwhelmed by everything that's happening in my life. So here you have a cardiologist, but my office space was being filled with people who weren't talking about what their blood pressure numbers were at home, or what their cholesterol numbers were, or if they even had chest pain, they were telling me about how they were feeling up here, and what was happening to them mentally and socially, and in terms of stress, the amount that people are carrying on a daily basis. And it's overwhelming. And for many people, just having that space to unload and just say, I'm not doing okay, many of them would cry, or to have a safe space where they can be vulnerable and talk about things that they don't talk about with anyone is probably one of the most meaningful things for me as a doctor to know that I'm able to provide that. And just being able to listen, just being a listener for people, there was so much value there. And I saw it when people would come up to me in the MRI and say, thank you so much for letting me tell you this and for listening.

A thank you for that, not for, thanks for getting my blood pressure less than 130 over 80, or for sending me for that scan. And so it just became so apparent to me in my cardiology practice that we were really missing the boat in terms of what people really need, which is a medical community and a practice that focuses on people's mental and psychological well-being.

Lewis Howes (3:18)

Gosh, that's so interesting.

Tara Narula (3:19)

These worlds are totally separated and it's a big, big problem.

Lewis Howes (3:23)

As a cardiologist then, when you see people coming to your office, do you feel like it is the disease or the pain that is causing them stress and anxiety, or stress and anxiety that is causing them heart pain, chest pain, or physical disease?

Tara Narula (3:40)

I think it's definitely both. So certainly there are people who have had something really bad happen to them and they aren't feeling well and that causes them stress. On the other hand, there are stressful situations in their lives that may be giving them chest pain or difficulty in the physical aspect. And so it really is this bridge. And I think that's what's really important for people to recognize is so often we say there is a mind-body connection, we toss it out there, but we haven't done a great job explaining to people how intricately tied what happens up here is to here and what your body, how intricately tied your body is to your mental well-being. It's like this circle, this cycle, and you have to fix both. You have to fix the mental well-being in order to address the physical. So I can't have patients buy in to taking their medications or even going for a test if they're suffering and they don't even want to leave the house because they're depressed or they're dealing with financial issues or their son has a drug addiction or their husband is ill. They can't take care of their own needs because they're drowning under the weight of everything else that's happening in their life. And we are just not built right now as a medical institution to tailor our care to mental well-being.