Limelight: Matters of the heart By Lubna Abdel-Aziz It is your life's companion since well before birth, 21 days after conception. At birth it weighs only 19 grammes, steadily growing with the years to reach on the average 300 grammes in adults. Linked by 160,000 kilometres of pipelines, it distributes blood through the arteries and veins to all parts of your body, pumping seven litres through its chambers every 60 minutes. Though only as big as your fist, it is estimated that it does enough work in an hour to lift a weight of 1.4 metric tonnes, more than 30 centimetres off the ground. This mighty machine that beats over 100,000 times in a single day, working non-stop during your lifetime, is your heart. Ancient as well as mediaeval philosophers and scientists considered the heart the seat of the soul, as well as all of human thought, reason and emotion, often rejecting the value of the brain. Modern scientists have determined that when you "follow your heart", you are also thinking "rationally". They are not two separate ways of thinking. Emotions and the facial expressions that go with them are the most truthful aspects of humans. Ancient Egyptians weighed the heart of the dead against a feather, the feather of Ma'at, symbolising truth. Should the heart weigh heavier than the feather, the owner went to hell, if lighter, he was admitted to paradise. Aristotle (fourth century BC), defined emotions of the heart as all those feelings that so change men as to affect their judgements, also attended by pain or pleasure. If we lose the ability to experience emotions, we lose rationality and the ability to make the right decisions. Lack of emotional response leads to lack of understanding. While modern psychologists once maintained that emotions were purely mental, generated by the brain alone, as opposed to classic thought, it is now acknowledged that emotions have as much to do with the body as the brain. Experiencing an emotion results from the brain, heart and body acting in concert. The heart is in a constant two-way dialogue with the brain according to studies by the US research centre The Institute of HeartMath. We now know that the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. Such a vital machine on which our life depends is mostly ignored, neglected and abused. We take it for granted as it silently ticks away our living hours, unbeknownst that it is as fragile as it is strong. Maintaining the health of the heart has become medicine's primary concern. The risk factors developing heart disease are physical, mental, and emotional. A sedentary lifestyle, a diet high in fatty foods, smoking and excessive alcohol intake, break your heart faster than any lost love. Hereditary and genetic factors are unavoidable, but armed with our current knowledge, doctors can now recognise the trouble before it starts. Heart diseases are many and varied, the most common being the heart attack. Most heart attacks are caused by cholesterol being deposited in the coronary arteries, which develops a plaque that forms a clot, blocking the flow of blood to the heart muscle. Lack of oxygen and nutrients suddenly stops the pump from pumping. Bypass surgeries, balloons, stents, pacemakers all help, but heart disease has become a global epidemic, and prevention is far better than half measure cures. Once a male prerogative, heart disease is now the leading killer of women in the US, according to two recent Johns Hopkins. Lifestyles must change, and to avoid further risks, early detection. There are more good news from Johns Hopkins, the birthplace of modern cardiac surgery, where balloons and clot-busting drugs were first used, adds a new first by a dedicated group of researchers for whom "the heart is the heart of their work". They have discovered that Viagra is also helpful in reducing the effect of hormonal stress on the heart in both men and women. Future studies will seek answers to its effectiveness in modifying other stress stimuli including adrenaline and hypertension. Stress is the potent, yet silent trigger, for earlier cardiac decline. The risk is significantly increased for people who have to deal constantly with stressful emotions -- provocation, irritation, frustration or anger. Stress hormone levels increase, blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises, and the immune system is weakened. When the situation is reversed, and we experience such positive emotions as love, appreciation and compassion, the heart rapidly responds in like manner, producing harmonious heart rhythms, leading to cardiovascular efficiency, nervous system balance, and overall health benefits. The brain knows that the heart feels good, and creates a warm gentle feeling in the heart area, shifting it into a more efficient state, increasing our ability to think clearly and compassionately. Can we do ourselves a favour every day and find something in our lives to feel genuinely appreciative about? Experts suggest recalling a past memory that conjures warm, comforting feelings: "it's not a mental image of a memory that creates a shift in our heart rhythm, but rather the emotions associated with the memory," says Rollin McCraty of the Institute of HeartMath. Apart from heart transplants and other radical methods of saving your heart, scientists have seen the future by repairing your heart with stem cells. Last October the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded Johns Hopkins $12 million for two cell therapy heart projects. One uses the patient's own cardiac stem cells, and the other donor Mesenchymal Stem Cells to heal the damaged heart. Richard Lange, chief of clinical cardiology notes: "we are at the forefront of some key medical breakthroughs... that should change cardiac care as we know it today." Though shaped like a pear, in traditional art and folklore of both East and West, the symbol of the heart is drawn in a more stylised shape, with double bumps more accurately depicting features of the female body. It is typically coloured red, suggesting blood, also passion, emotion, and most of all, romantic love. We use this symbol everywhere, on clothes, jewellery, swimming pools, pillows, beds, book-covers, candy, chocolate, cakes, etc. Since we seem to relish it so much, perhaps we could give it a little more care, for without it there is no life! Great thoughts come from the heart Marquies de Vauvenargue (1715-1747)
