When anxious thoughts race through your mind, do you feel like your heart can jump out of your ribcage? When a wave of anger burns through your heart, is it complex for you to articulate coherent thoughts? These are just some instances where your heart and mind work in tandem. Like a duet, one does not go without the other.
More and more medical professionals have affirmed the connection between our hearts and minds. This newfound understanding suggests a more holistic approach to mental and heart conditions.
To lower your risks of falling ill to two of the most common types of illnesses in this country, it is worth learning how they are linked, so preventing one means keeping the other at bay.
How are the mind and the heart connected?
The old thinking was our mind, the brain, ruled our body. The rest of our body sends signals to the mind to make decisions and keep us alive. The heart is just a pump that pumps blood. Moreover, the heart and the mind were treated separately.
However, doctors have realized a clear connection between the heart and the brain. The Broken Heart Syndrome, aka Takotsubo Myocardiopathy or Stress Myocardiopathy, is a striking example of how sudden acute stress – a mental condition – results in a heart attack.
It has been discovered that the brain does not entirely rule our body as believed – vital organs such as our gut and heart also send directives to the brain, telling it what to do. The communication between the mind and nature is not one-sided – they are engaged in a feedback loop.
The new understanding states that the mind and the heart are inextricably linked. It advocates for a well-rounded approach that sees the wellbeing of our mind as crucial to the health of our heart and vice versa.
While we often think we feel emotions in our hearts, emotions are experienced first as bodily sensations that the brain notices and sends signals to the core.
For example, when you face something that makes you nervous, your hands get clammy, your forehead sweats, your face heats up, and your heart pumps faster. This interaction between your body, soul, and mind alerts you to a heightened emotional state, which influences your actions and, ultimately, your health.
When we have poor psychological health, our biological processes will become abnormal, weakening cardiovascular health. Therefore, you can lower your risks of heart disease by taking care of your psychological wellbeing and body. Vice versa, having a heart-healthy lifestyle would reduce your chances of mental illnesses.
This also applies to when you are sick. Treating heart problems does not only entail taking the prescribed medications – you can hasten your recovery, or at least alleviate your symptoms, by caring for your mental health.
The mind-heart connection in managing psychological distress
Most forms of psychological distress, such as stress, anger, anxiety, and depression, activate a part of your brain (called the HPA axis). When activated, this part autonomically regulates your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and digestion – processes that your body does without you being conscious about it. Once activated by distress, your brain, your body, and your heart are locked into a cascade of downstream effects: increasing oxygen demand, reducing blood flow to the heart, inducing irregular heartbeat, and blood clots. All of these are detrimental to your heart health.
Since these are involuntary processes, you cannot prevent psychological distress from messing with them. Instead, you can reduce the pain, thereby minimizing the attacks on the vital functions that keep you alive.
This section examines several mental health conditions and how they affect your heart health. We also suggest ways to prevent or alleviate them so that you can keep your mind and heart healthy together.
The mind-heart connection in stress
Stress manifests in so many signs. Headaches that compel you to rely on painkillers. Muscle tension fuels restlessness and angry outbursts, leaving you socially isolated. Pressure drives you to develop unhealthy habits like smoking, unregulated eating, fewer exercises, insomnia, etc., which all burden your heart. Feeling heavy in your heart is true in this case.
Stress seems unavoidable and encouraged in some settings, but here are some ways to turn it into a friend.
Balance work and rest
Balance is the key here; it takes knowing yourself to maintain a good balance. How much work can you take before you need a break? Some people can go for hours of deep focus, while others are most productive in short sprints. Your non-work commitments, such as family, chores, or healthcare, may also count as ‘work’ since you are obligated to show up and participate.
Meanwhile, resting time is when you can set aside obligations and pressure to have a good time. What kind of break is most effective for you? Some people enjoy the company of others; extroverts would feel recharged after an exciting night out with friends. Some others think restful after being on their own; introverts can only relax in peaceful solitude.
Your work and resting habits may change over time, too, so it helps to pay attention to your body’s internal rhythm and find the optimal balance for your current self.
Resting may seem trivial if you are used to a highly-charged environment, but it is the time your body gets to regulate processes vital to your heart.
Slow down
Slowing down may seem impossible in a fast-paced job, but it can work wonders for your brain. The busyness and fast pace of urban, modern life are inherently stimulating for the brain – “too fast” can easily tip into “stressful.” The healthier changes can be bite-sized, such as:
– Deep breathing for two minutes
– Meditate in a natural setting, away from a screen
– Walk instead of driving when possible
– Focus on one task at a time
– Avoid stimulants such as coffee on an empty stomach
When you slow down and stay mindful of the present moment, you allow yourself the peace of hearing your heart beating and your breath coming and going. The body keeps the score – when you pay attention to it, even if just for a moment.
The mind-heart connection in anxiety
When you feel anxious, your muscles tense up, your mind swirls with anxious thoughts, and your blood pressure rises. You may fall into over-eating a saturated-fat diet, smoking, and having high blood pressure. All of these harden your arteries, making them narrow or blocked. Consequently, they can’t deliver enough blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the rest of your body. This will lead to blood clots and other serious problems, not just in your heart but also in your kidney.
Here are two ways to keep your anxiety under a healthy threshold before it manages you.
Progressive muscle relaxation
This simple exercise helps relax muscle tension that often comes with anxiety:
– Find a location where you can be calm
– Close your eyes
– Slowly tense a muscle group. Hold the pressure for three seconds, then quickly relax.
– Do this from your toes to your head
Anxiety can pull you into a spiral in your mind at the expense of staying present in your body. This exercise helps you get back into the rhythmic beating of your heart and remain current.
Get to know your anxiety
When your anxiety seems all-consuming, do this to keep it in check:
– Plan ‘worry’ time: keep a journal of your worries.
– Challenge your anxious thoughts: they are often more wrong than right.
– Distance yourself from your thoughts – you are not your thoughts.
Doing this helps you become conscious of your anxiety and its triggers. You may stop them from spiraling and loosen their grip on your mind.
The mind-heart connection in anger
Within two hours of an outburst of anger, your heart rate and blood pressure rise, increasing your risks of heart attacks, strokes, or any effect that damages the heart muscles. Feeling anger, hostility, or aggression all the time may cause blockage in your arteries even when you are healthy.
Here are some tips for dealing with anger before it blows your heart.
Count down to 10
Count down to 10 before reacting. The counting allows you to:
– take deep breaths
– relax your tense muscles
– consider a calm response
This is the quickest and most straightforward way to counter an oncoming wave of anger. It calms you down enough to take the next step below.
Take a timeout to get active
Anger compels you to act without thinking. Instead of acting out and regretting, take a timeout and get active. Speed walk, run, or climb the stairs. Or stretch out your tense muscles, especially your neck and shoulders. Let your anger out with a quick workout.
Physical activities are the best outlet to vent your anger without hurting other people. The cardio from moving your body is good for your heart. After your body gets loose and tired, your head cools down, and you can have a quiet moment to process what has happened.
The mind-heart connection in depression
Depression has been found to worsen the risks of obesity, thereby raising the risks of heart attacks, blockages in the blood vessels, and strokes.
Depressed patients with heart conditions are also more likely to give up their fight against the illness. They may refuse to take their meds, even if it is just daily aspirin. Once their depression lifts, they also follow their medication better.
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Depression and heart diseases make an unfortunate duo that predicts symptom recurrence in former patients, sometimes even mortality.
Despite such a devastating outcome, depression does not spell the end. Here are some valuable tips for managing depression and nurturing your heart.
Take baby steps
There are many valuable pieces of advice to cope with depression, such as here, here, and here, but the most challenging thing is to get started. Make your first step as easy as possible.
Need to get out of bed? How about sitting up first? Then, when you feel like it, how about putting your feet on the floor?
Feels excruciating? It is okay to be slow and steady. Each tiny step you take matters a lot.
Reach out to people you feel safe with
Depression has become one of the most common mental health issues in the modern world. You may feel shame about your depression, but think of the people with whom you feel safe and cared for. Likely, half of them are going through, or have been through, the same thing.
So reaching out to them is the best thing you can do. If there is any energy reserved in you, send them a text, and ask them to come over. Chances are they have been waiting to hear from you, too.
Using the mind-heart connection to improve mental health
Mind-body practices are known to improve both heart health and mental health. Meditation, yoga, and positive psychology practices are wellness habits you can develop to build both mental and cardiovascular strength.
The mind-heart connection in optimism
Optimism fills your heart with hope and faith that things will work out for you. With this faith, you are more likely to take actions that will get you closer to the future you want.
When being healthy is what you envision for your future, you will feel motivated to get active, eat well, get good sleep, and avoid smoking. All of these habits keep your heart strong. It may also help you live longer. Optimism lowers the risk of hospital emergencies, even for people with a heart condition.
When you are optimistic, you believe that a positive thing that happens is a sign of more good things to come. Similarly, you tend to think that adverse events are one-offs, unlikely to happen again. Naturally, there is more to look forward to when you are optimistic.
Here are some tips to fill your life with more optimism.
Give yourself credit
When a good thing happens to you, recognize your strengths contributing to this result. For example, if you meet all tight deadlines for this week, congratulate yourself on your time management skills, productivity, and aptitude. Or when you have maintained a month-long streak of a healthy diet, pat yourself on the back for the persistence and motivation that go into making healthier choices. There may be no external accolades, but becoming your cheerleader keeps the sun shining on you.
Celebrating small and big wins is a powerful signal to your heart and mind that positive things are within your reach. This encourages you to adopt healthy habits to invite the best possible future outcomes into your life.
Judge adverse events in context
Bad things have the terrible ability to dampen your day. When they happen, try not to self-blame immediately – also consider how extenuating circumstances have led to this. You got rejected for a potential job because you were not good enough; it could have been because the company needed to be more explicit about its requirements, or the culture would be a bad fit for you.
It helps to keep the big picture in mind so that you do not get obsessed over the things that are out of your reach.
The mind-heart connection in your sense of purpose
A sense of purpose keeps you from getting lost and forgetting who you are. It reminds you of your long-term goals and your life path. It keeps you from slipping into destructive habits of alcohol, sugar, or pills. It gives you the will to stay alive even when medical conditions are plaguing you.
Be careful that your sense of purpose is not a carbon copy of the conventions held by your society. You may be raised to believe that your life purpose is to get married and have kids or to succeed and be somebody. But such conventional thinking likely needs to reflect your actual values.
Your true sense of purpose is a lot more personal and meaningful. It serves as the ‘why’ to most of the most significant decisions in your life, reflecting your values, ethics, and identity.
Here are a couple of tips to find a sense of purpose that’s right for you.
Be patient in exploring your interests
Finding a sense of purpose can be a lifelong journey. Depending on your childhood, you may need to learn the meaning of always choosing to conform and compromise. It takes years or decades to try out different interests and understand why they appeal to you – until you arrive at the right thing. Like an experiment, you only know your life purpose when you find it. Before then, it may feel like groping in the dark.
Stay encouraged if your current interests or commitments do not make you feel fulfilled. If you keep going, you are ticking off the “no’s’’ to get to the ultimate “yes” down the line.
Engage with a passionate cause
The keyword here is “passionate.” Consider an injustice that riles you up, gets your blood boiling, and urges you to take action. Is there anything you would instead do for free to see it get done? Is there a cause that compels you to put yourself out there, to leave a mark on this world?
These causes, and the intense emotions you get when you engage with them, are good signs that your life purpose is near—setting aside some time to join the people active in these causes, even if just casually, will help you get a clearer vision of your life mission.
Take care of your mind to maintain a strong heart
“In Western medicine, we are very good at treating the disease, less good at treating the patient, and not very good at treating the person.” – Dr. Glenn N. Devine, MD, 2021.
Heart diseases are the leading cause of death in the U.S. and have been for several years. The COVID-19 pandemic has also triggered a 25% rise in mental health issues worldwide.
There are many reasons why heart diseases and mental health problems feed off each other. Therefore, a holistic approach that addresses the mind and the heart gives hope that these prevalent illnesses will no longer claim many lives.
Having good mental health means you are more likely to take care of yourself and pay more attention to the wellness of others. Wellness also entails everything you do to have an enjoyable, meaningful life. They could be listening to music, laughing, hugging, or having a massage. You will also be more willing to attend regular health screenings, eat a heart-healthy diet, take your meds, and avoid substance abuse.
These positive habits result in average blood pressure, less sugar and bad fat in your blood, and less inflammation, all of which ensure your heart functions at the optimal rate.
An easy tip to start maintaining a healthier heart and mind together: do mind-body practices. Yoga, meditation, and prayers have been proven to reduce inflammation, and strengthen our energy and immunity, even if only practiced for a brief time.
One last tip: if your heart doctor asks about your mental health, they’re a keeper.
