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Many people talk about the importance of mental health and wellbeing. But what if we are missing out on the brain’s best friend in this equation?
In the last few decades, efforts have been placed in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in both areas; cardiology and mental health. The connection between the heart and the brain has, unfortunately, not had sufficient interest from the medical community though.
Through this article, we will understand how the heart’s delicate way of thinking and feeling has been forgotten for many years, as well as exploring the scientific evidence behind mental health and cardiovascular disease and the role of our emotions in diseases of the heart and brain.
More Than A Simple Pump
Modern medicine may have come to overlook the heart as just a simple pump, but in ancient times the view was vastly different.
Take the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle for example, who in the fourth century BC identified the heart as the most important organ of the body, and the first to form when we are embryos. He saw the heart as the seat of intelligence, emotions, and consciousness, while describing it as the centre of vitality.
The ancient Egyptians were cardiocentrists too. They also believed that the heart was the most important organ in the human body, as well as the only organ associated with the soul and the only one necessary to enter into the next life.
Research by John and Beatrice Lacey in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrated that the heart was not just a simple pump but also an organ of high intelligence, with its own nervous system, decision-making powers, and attachments to the brain.
Then, in 1991, pioneering neuro-cardiology researcher Dr. Andrew Armour made a brilliant discovery. He found that the heart contains 40,000 neurons called sensory neuritis with the capacity of remembering, discerning, and decision-making. This network of neurons is called the intrinsic cardiac nervous system, meaning that the heart has its own nervous system. Intrinsically related is the vagus nerve, which carries information from the heart to the brain, as well as from other internal organs to the brain.
Ancient Egyptians believe that the heart was the most important organ in the human body. It was associated with the soul. They believed the heart was the only organ a soul needed to enter into the next life.
The Heart’s Magnetic Field
Furthermore, the heart also possesses its own pacemaker, an extraordinarily intelligent hub that initiates and controls the cardiac electrical conduction, and has its own electrical conduction, independent from the rest of the body.
Research studies have shown that the heart generates the body’s most powerful and most extensive rhythmic electromagnetic field, which is about 100 times stronger than the brain’s magnetic range. It’s the most potent source of energy in the human body and can be detected from up to three feet away from the body.
The heart has many forms of communicating with its long-time friend, the brain, either biochemically, energetically, or by a complex physiological interaction. There is even evidence that a subtle yet influential electromagnetic or ‘energetic’ communication system operates just below our conscious awareness. Energetic interactions possibly contribute to the ‘magnetic’ attractions or repulsions that occur between individuals, affect our affairs in friendship and love.
In fact, studies done by psychophysiologist Rollin McCraty in 2004, found that one person’s brain waves could synchronize to another person’s heart. Equally, two heart’s will synchronize with each other according to their level of empathy and compassion.
How Your Emotions Play With Your Heart
Research has also shown that different patterns of the heart’s activity (which bring different emotional states) have different effects on cognitive and emotional functions. When we experience stress or negative emotions, the heart enters a level of incoherence, creating erratic and disorganised electromagnetic waves.
These signals are sent to the brain and to other people that we might be interacting with. Our level of coherence significantly affects our decision-making, the quality of our relationships, and the management of our emotions. This helps explain why we may often act impulsively and unwisely when we’re under stress. The heart’s input to the brain during stressful or negative emotions also has a profound effect on the brain’s emotional processes, actually serving to reinforce the emotional experience of stress.
In contrast, the more ordered and stable pattern of the heart’s input to the brain during positive emotional states has the opposite effect; it facilitates cognitive function and reinforces positive feelings and emotional stability. This means that learning to generate increased heart rhythm coherence, by sustaining positive emotions, not only benefits the entire body but also profoundly affects how we perceive, think, feel, perform, act and react in the world.
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