Broken Heart Syndrome

"Due to problems on the tracks, the train leaving at 8.43 AM to Amsterdam Schiphol will not depart."
Wait, what? ..But I have an exam on Immunology in an hour!
My heart skipped a beat in surprise, and after this, my BPM skyrocketed in response to the stress hormones released by my kidneys. For one moment, I thought the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen / Dutch Railways) would choke the life out of my poor beating heart.

Heart Attack Level: NS.
One day, the NS will choke the life out of someone's heart.

Face it, every Dutch student traveling by train to his/her institution gets to deal with late trains or rage-quitting trains every once in a while. Usually, it's only a minor irritant, but when you have an exam in an hour, your palms will get sweaty.
The 'Nederlandse Spoorwegen', or Dutch Railways is generally the sole reason for this crap.
During autumn, fallen leaves will stress the rails, leading to delays or otherwise stop the trains from working. During winter, ice and snow does the same. For some reason, the trains moving for and away from Amsterdam Schiphol seem to suffer the most problems. Last year, they were already renovating the rails. 2 months ago, a mysteriously disappearing fire (read: lots of smoke, but nothing to be found) disrupted services between Amsterdam Schiphol and Utrecht. After this, they renovated Utrecht - Amsterdam Schiphol YET AGAIN. For over the last two weeks, several trains did not depart for Amsterdam Schiphol. What the hell is going on?
Coming late for class or work gets annoying, but coming late for important meetings and exams? Oh dear..

Fair enough, my stress reaction did not last for long - I arrived just in time for the exam, but I still don't like it.

For some people (mainly elderly women), a stress reaction might trigger some sort of heart attack. The damage is not of permanent nature, unless the person is literally frightened to death, and the patients are generally perfectly healthy before the attack sets in.
Stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine/adrenaline can cause the heart muscles to suddenly weaken, leading to heart attack-like symptoms. It is generally called 'Broken Heart Syndrome' or 'Takotsubo cardiomyopathy'.

Recovery from Broken heart syndrome is fast - most people recover in about two weeks. For the grieving, this might take a lot longer. During this time, the heart stays weaker than usual, and sometime ago, I read that grieving people were at more risk of having a heart attack. I myself faced a somewhat troubling situation several years ago, and while there was no need for hospitalization, my heart ached painfully at times. It took me several months to get over it, but I'm good to go again. My heart is powerful enough to handle martial arts training.

And I managed to get 87% for the Immunology exam. Seems like a little bit of stress works wonders, at times.