Head Attack
Head Attack
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=head-attack&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend
Summary:
How is your head able to to hurt your heart? Well for example during times of danger the body releases stress hormones, which pour into your blood for the flight or fight response. Stress is also just in everyday life, turning the body into overdrive causing a vicious cycle that can knock us out of our routine giving us more of a chance for arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). Therefore causing a blockage and most likely later on a heart attack.
It also seems that emotional tension is a significant factor of physical factors. Even Type A personalities are more susceptible to heart attack because their behavior is characterized by ambition, competitiveness and impatience. The agression and hostility sometimes felt by Type As adds more levels of stress at a faster deterioration rate. Anger, depression, hoplessness, and the loss of a loved one can increase the risk of a person getting arrhythmia.
On the bright side, the frontal brain which is important in fibrillation is connected to nerve cell bodies of the sympathetic nervous system in the spinal cord. Meaning we can influence our heart function in a positive way. Another way to slow heart disease, depression and so on is with cognitive behavioral therapy. Along with eating healthy and exercising.
My reaction: I find this article to be a little bit of what I already knew. Of course the brain has some control over the heart, its other things like emotional stuff and stress that adds to the way of the heart... However it was interesting to see in what ways exactly the mind can cause something to happen with the heart, along with the other factors.
posted by Brie @ 4:12 PM
3 Comments:
I did this article first quarter and it was possibly one of my favorites. The thing I found most interesting was that stress can in fact cause your body to go into fight or flight mode. That may be the reason people are so uptight and angry when they become stressed. The effects this can have on your heart though are awful. I suffer from a lot of stress and it often causes me to worry even more about future heart problems I might encounter.
This article reminds me alot of the one I did this quarter. It is crazy to think that our feelings could cause our hearts to stop working properly.But what you talked about that I never even thought of was that we change our feelings. It we are too stressed out we can relax or if we are scared we can try to calm down. When I am really stressed(which I normally am) my mom always tells me how bad it is, but normally I don't pay any attention. Now I see just how bad it actually is for my body. Rather than just feeling sick and anxious, I could be hearting my heart.
I did know that our brain has some control over our heart. I find it interesting that our feelings can have such a great effect on our heart. I did not realize that even our personality types can affect our heart health. I also found it interesting how everyday stress can have such a great affect on our hearts. I did not realize that stress could give us a greater chance of an arrhythmia.
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