A study in which 157 healthy adult volunteers were asked to regulate their emotional reactions to unpleasant pictures, has found that those who showed greater brain activation when regulating their negative emotions also had higher blood levels of interleukin-6 (a marker for inflammation) and increased thickness of the carotid artery wall (a marker of atherosclerosis).
The finding helps explain why stress increases the risk for stroke and heart attack.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/e-hd050514.php