How our emotions affect our heart – a story of chaos and coherence
Throughout history it has long been assumed that the seat of our emotions is in our heart and much of our present-day terminology reflects this assumption as in "she expressed a heart-felt gratitude". It has taken much investigation and research to discover just some of the processes that do in fact link out hearts to emotions and in particular to the emotional part of the brain.
The part of the brain that is responsible for our emotions is the inner "primitive brain" rather than the convoluted white matter that sits on top of the inner brain and is responsible largely for our reasoning, language and logic. The heart and the inner brain are intricately connected by a system of nerves known as the autonomic nervous system, which has two branches the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. This is a complex subject but put very simply the sympathetic branch is responsible for speeding up our heart rate and activating our emotional brain and the parasympathetic branch tends to slow things down and act like a brake. We have all experienced this effect and one situation that can be recognized (or at least remembered) is when an attractive man or woman looks at us in an encouraging way and our heart starts to beat rapidly and we may even blush. This is because the sympathetic system has stepped on the accelerator- sometimes a little too much!
As there is a constant interplay between the two branches of this system, the accelerator and the brake, the interval between two successive heartbeats is variable. (This minute variability is both normal and healthy and should not be confused with the much larger variability found in cardiac arrhythmias.) Babies hearts show the greatest variability between beats and as we near the end of our lives the variability becomes much less and resembles a metronome beat.
Our task in keeping healthy then is to maintain variability between heartbeats. On a computer screen and linked to suitable monitoring equipment great variability shows itself as a smooth undulating wave pattern known as "coherence" and less variability shows itself as chaotic unrelated peaks and troughs known as "chaos"
So what has this to do with our emotions? Quite a lot it seems and we now know that negative emotions such as anger and resentment cause heart chaos while positive emotions, love, appreciation, gratitude cause increased variability or coherence. Studies have been published in The Lancet and Circulation, prestigious cardiac journals, indicating that decreased heart variability (chaos) is a better predictor of poor cardiac outcome than other clinical methods.
Chaos and coherence can all be demonstrated quite simply by computer visual feed-back systems and are excellent for convincing the sceptic that thoughts influence heart rate variability. However, before we all drown in sea of worry about what we are thinking from moment to moment (likely in itself to cause chaos) we can be reassured that we don't need to experiences only positive emotions in order to live longer but we do perhaps need to be aware of how negative experiences like depression and sadness can shorten our lives if we experience them too often.
The good news is that there is a very simple technique that can be learned and practiced anywhere and at any time that will instantly put your heart into the state of coherence
The Heart Coherence Training Method
Your "pleasant event" could be more or less anything… if you are driving a car at the time when you wish to be use this method the memory of a favourite piece of music could suffice and will not interfere with driving concentration. I have used this method myself while driving and to good effect, after all if you are upset with another person's driving ability then you are not exactly going to be concentrating very effectively yourself, so becoming calmer can only assist the situation as coherence has been shown to enhance brain function.
The use of this method has been fully validated and there is a large amount of information available about it, especially via the Internet. Websites you might like to visit are www.heartmath.com www.quantumintech.com
Lesley Richards
TWO ISLANDS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Be warned! If by chance our esteemed editor of this august magazine attends one of your classes and approaches you to enquire where you are going on holiday, pick your words carefully. By mentioning that my partner and I were about to go to Corsica and Sardinia, he replied that he was off to Sicily and therefore we could write up our experiences for the magazine, 'The Med's three biggest islands.' It is what is called a 'Theme' feature in the Trade apparently.
But how does one write about a holiday? It is so personal and we all enjoy ourselves in different ways.
The first thing that I can say is that it was one of the best holidays that we have had. Like many of the members of THROB we are of a certain age and we have had many good holidays in the Med. The secret I believe is to choose what suits you now, but based on your past successes and failures. We chose a touring holiday with three hotels and two islands that neither of us had seen before. This was just right.
Lucky? Not really. As Garry Player replied to a cheeky reporter when he commented that Garry had hit a lucky shot, 'Yes, the more I practice the luckier I seem to get.' The fundamentals that we obviously got right were firstly the weather. Mid June, just before it gets to the ferocious heat of July and August. Secondly, the Food. We both love Italian and French cooking. Two for the price of one. Wines were mainly local but very good quality and very cheap compared to home prices. Sardinia has quite a large wine industry in the South now, thanks to land drainage schemes and the elimination of malaria since the Second World War. Mainly whites but it was quite possible to take the two glasses of red wine per day as recommended by Dr.Stuttaford in his excellent book on heart disease. We find now that this type of holiday removes all the decision-taking and as I like to sketch and Mary is the keen photographer we make the perfect team and one also makes such pleasant friendships when out in a group and at mealtimes.
But what of these two islands? Like many islands their location relative to other major centres of civilisation is critical. Sardinia and Corsica are no exceptions. They lie at one of the crossroads in the Mediterranean and have been occupied by numerous civilisations from the earliest traces dating from 1400 BC until today. Sardinia is now a region of Italy. Corsica has had a similar history. In the end being sold to France by the Genoese in the 18th Century! Corsica is therefore a Department of France and incidentally, has the headquarters of the Foreign Legion stationed in the town of Calvi. If any of you wish to start a new life, with a new identity the offer is still open. Of course one has to pass the medical and it is for five years. But the pay and conditions are very good and not a bit like Gary Cooper in 'Beau Geste'. It is no wonder the inhabitants of these two islands are fiercely independent. The truth of the matter of course is that their economies today rely on the support of EU funds to develop infrastructures, agriculture and tourism. But the depopulation of the mountainous countryside goes on. This is very picturesque for the 'tourist photographer and the artist' but real hardship for the inhabitants. The powers that be however have learned some lessons since the despoliation of the Costa Brava and the Costa Blanca in Spain and the Adriatic Coast of Italy in the 60's and 70's. There are very strict controls on the development of the marvellous coastlines of both islands. Even the Aga Khan finally went elsewhere, and Senior Berlusconi is currently being thwarted in his plans to develop on the N.E. tip of Sardinia.
These two islands therefore remain a delight to see and enjoy.
The other two major factors which have made these islands so 'attractive' are firstly the geology and secondly, their strategic position, for the control of the Mediterranean.
Geologically speaking, both Islands are mainly Granite, fantastically distorted and weathered, producing dramatic mountainous peaks. Corsica is really one giant granite mountain. Sardinia, the larger of the two islands in somewhat more restrained with larger areas of agriculture which softens the views. The wild flowers and herbs in both Islands of course are stunning. Finally, this is the celebratory year of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in June 1805. He was a great favourite with the inhabitants of the natural deep water harbour of Agincourt Sound between the northern tip of Sardinia and the island of La Maddalena. He kept his main Mediterranean fleet there from 1803 - 05, when he sailed to Trafalgar, his victory and his death. He gave the main Church there a set of silver candlesticks and an altar cross as a thank-you present, which are proudly on display today. I'm no silver expert but they were certainly not George III.London silver. Very Spanish. Booty perhaps from some previous campaign? But I carp. You know what sailors are, and it was the thought that counted.
And of course nothing really changes. The same natural harbour is a centre for both the Italian and American navies. The only difference now is that the Sardinians monitor very carefully the waters around, for radioactivity. The US 7th Fleet have Nuclear submarines that lay off shore. I wonder if they will bequeath candlesticks when they finally leave.
And so I can thoroughly recommend these two islands as a holiday destination. And should you visit La Maddalena and see all these smartly turned out young, dark haired officers in immaculate white uniforms and gold epaulettes. They are Italians not Americans. As our courier innocently pointed out 'The Americans wear camouflage uniforms and therefore you can spot them a mile away'!
SICILY
As with all holiday locations it depends what you are looking for - we tend to go for the quiet country locations up in the hills about a million miles from the nearest disco. We like to rent a nice villa in which we can relax and rent a car in which we can do a bit of motor touring to places of interest. The interesting places in southeastern Siciliy are those shaped by the 1693 earthquake which devastated the area by all account. This historical time, you will no doubt recall, is in the great Baroque period of art, music and architecture and many towns we visited were magnificent examples of this architectural style. Unfortunately the local powers that be, seemed to have latched on to World Heretage funding in a big way and almost half of the building we saw we clad in scaffolding and green netting as they were undergoing extensive restoration!
The most stunning aspect of Sicily in May is the wealth of wild flowers abounding to excess in every hedgerow and field. In the fields alongside one road a gas pipeline was being laid and a swathe of red poppies covered the disturbed earth like a blood-red river running through the countryside.
The only tourist spot we visited was Mount Etna. This volcano last erupted in 2002 so nobody is allowed into the central crater. At considerable expense you can ride the cble car to about 9,000ft and then take a "bus" across the ash field to about 10,000ft. The sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere and the heat in the rocks is immediately obvious - but the views are fantastic! Be warned however.... A member of our little party had an atrial fibrillation problem and this envinment did not agree with him at all. He had to be given oxygen when we eventually got him back down to "base camp" and an ECG at Syracuse hospital the next day. Such emergencies can be quite difficult if you can't speak Italian.
The only other problem we faced on the holiday was the lack of local restaurants. In Syracuse and the towns around Etna, no problem, but we were not in a tourist area and the lack of ristorante and pizzeria was noticeable, unlike say Crete where wayside and village taverna seem to abound. The food, when you finally locate it, is of course, wonderful as is the local wine, Nero D'Avola, expensive at about 5 to 6 euros a bottle. The cheapest wine we found was 50 cents a bottle but the least said about that the better!
David Read
AN ISLAND CLOSER TO HOME
I suspect that for many THROB members a holiday abroad can be quite daunting. We all worry whether we can succeed in organising it what with the paper work, E111s, passports, bookings and of course not knowing about your holiday destination. Will you be made welcome and treated like being at home for example? In the case of Southern Ireland I can honesty say the hospitality of the people was remarkable. It even showed itself in the way in which they respect other car users on the road and in the villages they stop to allow ducks and other water birds to cross the road. Time seems to have little meaning for the people of Southern Ireland and they are always prepared to help you and stop to talk if you will let them. They are full of anecdotes and love to hear your entertaining stories in return.
At certain times of the year the country is full of Americans and Canadians trying to find their ancestors. The music is something I will not forget and they have a language that is easer to understand than the Scots or Welsh. The best times to go are either in May or September - you get cheaper air flights and it's very quiet. There is plenty of places to see in West Cork where we stayed.
Accomodation can be found from the Tourist Board or from the Real Bed & Breakfasts of Ireland Guide 2005 which gives 150 pages of places to stay and is free with a Budget car rental
Brian Barratt
DRUG PROFILE
BETA BLOCKERS
Beta-blockers are medicines which are used to treat a variety of conditions. There are several types of beta-blocker. Each type has one or more brand names as well as its pharmaceutical name such as atenolol, betaxolol, bisoprolol, carvedilol, celiprolol, esmolol, labetalol, metoprolol, nadolol, nebivolol, oxprenolol, pindolol, sotalol, propranolol, timolol.( Note how they all end with "olol"- this tells you that it is a betablocker.)
Purpose: They lower blood pressure so can be used simply for that purpose but they have also been shown to decrease the likelihood of a repeat heart attack particularly in the first two years after a heart attack has occurred. Beta blockers can also reduce episodes of angina. They can also be useful in certain heart rhythm irregularies.
How they work: Beta blockers work by blocking the transmission of certain nerve impulses. The ends of some nerves release a chemical called noradrenaline when the nerve is stimulated. This chemical then stimulates beta-adrenergic receptors, which are tiny structures occurring on cells in various parts of the body including the heart, brain, and blood vessels. When these receptors are stimulated, they cause various effects. For example, nerve impulses to the heart can stimulate beta-adrenergic receptors on heart cells
and cause an increase in the force and rate of the heart beat.
The beta-blocker medicine 'sits' on beta-adrenergic receptors and 'blocks' them from being stimulated. When beta-receptors in the heart are blocked, the force and rate of the heart beat is reduced. Typical dosage: This is dependent on the brand of beta blocker so no standard dose applies across all the range. Always read the label!
Side effects: Most people who take beta-blockers have no side-effects, or only minor ones
However, because of their action in various parts of the body, some people have unwanted effects. For example, sometimes the heart rate can go too slow. This may make you dizzy or feel faint. If you have asthma or chronic bronchitis you should not take beta-blockers. Diabetics must also be careful if using beta-blockers. Other possible side effects include coldness in the hands or feet and sleep disorders.
Always read the information leaflet which comes with your particular brand for a full list of possible side-effects.
General warning: Do not stop beta-blockers suddenly without first consulting a doctor. When you take beta-blockers regularly, the body becomes used to them. So, suddenly stopping them can sometimes cause problems such as palpitations, a rise in blood pressure, or a recurrence of angina pains. If they need to be stopped, your doctor may advise a gradual reduction in dose. Remember.... if you have been prescribed any drug by your doctor it has been prescribed for a reason and you should take your medication as advised. If you are not happy with your medication regime go back and discuss the alternatives with your doctor. You know it makes sense!!
Lesley Richards