Published: January 29, 2007 06:44 pm            

A happy heart is a healthy heart

The heart is a symbol for many things. In love it can be won, lost, stolen and even broken. When people make difficult decisions, they are told to listen to their hearts. Despite its symbolic meaning, scientists once maintained that the heart was no more than an organ pumping blood to the body; but today, researchers are finding it to be much more different. As it turns out, thoughts and emotions can affect heart health.

Experts have developed significant data to show that certain negative emotions are bad for the heart. Angry outbursts, for instance, can trigger heart attacks in patients who have been diagnosed with heart disease. According to the Harvard Heart Letter, low self-esteem and hopelessness have been linked to an increased risk of dying from a heart-related illness. High anxiety can increase this risk as well. Simply suppressing these emotions is not the solution as this can amplify stress and make the situation worse.

The good news is that positive emotions can lead to improved heart health. A Duke University study linked optimism and feelings of happiness to lessened risk during a certain heart procedure. Other research has shown that heart patients with a positive attitude live longer and have a higher quality of life than those who experience chronic sadness and depression.

Researchers differ as to why and how emotions affect heart health. Some suspect that chemicals emitted by the brain, such as the hormones produced by stress, have an impact on the heart. Others think that negative emotions lead to behaviors such as poor diet and substance abuse which can also result in poor heart health.

Negative emotions are a natural and inevitable part of life. Nobody is happy all the time, and life is full of challenges. Rather than giving in to negative feelings or bottling them up, we should strive to understand and manage them. This means identifying potentially stressful situations in advance and developing ways to cope with them. It also means finding constructive ways to deal with anger and irritation, such as talking about problems rather than ignoring them or lashing out. Managing negative emotions is not always easy, and enlisting the help of a professional can make a big difference. If you would like to learn more about how emotions affect your health, please contact Dr. Kazi Ahmad at 734-1515.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.