February 2005
Hearts
February is heart month. We are all reminded of this with messages and advertisements about hearts, flowers, candy, and sweethearts. Most assuredly the heart is attributed the ability to love, desire, and even hate.
In reality, though, this little organ in the middle of our chest is just a pump made of muscle and blood vessels. These muscles and vessels, however, are absolutely essential to our well being; truthfully, our “being” at all. The emotions attributed to the heart actually originate in our brain. If you have ever experienced fright, anger, love, joy, or excitement, you cannot deny that the heart is definitely involved in these feelings. It is this reaction that led people to believe that the heart was indeed the seat of feelings and emotions. It reacts quickly and profoundly whenever one’s emotions are engaged.
Since the heart is a vital organ, it behooves us to keep it in good working order. A good maintenance program always includes eating properly, (that is low cholesterol, and low fat consumption and a good intake of antioxidants to keep the vessels from clogging.) Exercise is also important if one is to maintain a healthy heart. Walking, swimming, and bicycling are noted to increase oxygen intake and heart rate which will help keep the pump pumping adequately and send out good nutrients to other vital parts of the body. Most adults agree with these methods of managing a healthy heart even if they do not always practice such good habits.
Equally important to healthy heart maintenance, however, is the managing of emotions that cause the heart to react. One of the most dangerous and damaging emotions for our heart to cope with is anger - real anger, not just a little mad, but raging explosive “mad fits”. Persons who allow themselves to work into such rages do mighty damage to the heart. The blood pressure usually soars, oxygen intake gets limited, and acids increase in the circulation which actually influence the heart rate and rhythm. Repressed anger and emotions are likewise harmful as the stress level is raised with repression of feelings.
Stress management, if practiced well, can reduce hypertension and be a positive factor for a healthy heart. Laughter and joy have just the opposite effect. A good laugh releases endorphins into our bloodstream which relieve pain and send good oxygenated blood to all the vital organs. Wouldn’t it be a great health boost if we could learn to laugh instead of being angry or resentful? Next time you are tempted to really “sound off”, try to find some humor in the incident and just have a good laugh instead. Your heart will benefit and maybe your relationships will also.