Why You Should Take Stress More Seriously If you’re someone who frequently declares, “I’m so stressed!” then you might want to pay attention to this: Your risk of heart attack could be double that of folks who don't think they're stressed, according to a new study. The findings, by French researchers and published Wednesday in the European Heart Journal, showed that people who believe that they are stressed—and that the stress is affecting their health—have more than twice the risk of heart attack as those who don’t feel that way.