Posted on 04/09/2007 5:09:48 PM PDT by blam
Scientists show we can die of a broken heart
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 12:47am BST 10/04/2007
Scientists have charted for the first time how intense stress caused by bereavement can make someone "die of a broken heart".
A British team has found that the regions of the brain responsible for learning, memory and emotion can destabilise the cardiac muscle of someone who already has heart disease.
When we are under stress, these "higher regions" of the brain take part in a vicious circle of activity which can trigger harmful rhythms, researchers say.
While it has always been suspected that emotional problems could put the heart under pressure, this was believed to have been caused by "primitive" brain regions, such as the brain stem sending messages to heart tissue. Bereavement has been one such unexplained problem.
The discovery of a new relationship between heart and brain, published online today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals how irregular cardiac rhythms are triggered, which can lead to sudden death in patients with underlying conditions.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London and the Brighton & Sussex Medical School (BSMS) studied 10 patients with specific heart conditions, measuring electrical changes at the surface of the skull.
The patients performed the mildly stressful task of counting backwards in sevens.
The scientists noted that activity in "higher level" regions, such as the cortex, not only reflected the responses of the heart to stress, but also became involved in a "feedback loop", often worsening the situation by making the heart muscle less stable.
Dr Marcus Gray, from BSMS, said: "We know that stress can increase the risk of sudden death through cardiac arrest and that the brain areas responsible for regulating heart function can be unbalanced by stress. Our research suggests that the cerebral cortex may play a significant role in these events by becoming involved in a vicious circle."
I had an aunt that was hit & killed crossing the road about 1 week before her wedding. Her husband to be would just sit by her grave and cry,everyday. The local cops would pick him up every night and take him home. He died about 2 months later. My relatives said he died of a broken heart.
So, science has just confirmed what poets have known throughout the ages.
ping
My first thought was Anna Nicole Smith. I know, all the drugs, but I still think after her son died, it was all over for her.
I think it was a broken heart and a headful of guilt about the death of her son.
What a stupid conclusion from such a study. Granted math has given me heartburn over the years, I fail to see how the stress of counting backwards by 7s can lead to heartbreak.
Counting backwards by 7s is an example of extremely mild stress. The death of a loved one is an example of severe stress. Multiply the side effects observed from mild stress and you can infer the potential results of severe stress. It's a pretty simply concept.
As long as they concentrate on the brain they’ll never discover the true causes of mental and spiritual travail.
And a good thing too. They’d only give such knowledge to the govt for more effective mind control of the populace.
What a sad story.
They had a double funeral.
The local cops would pick him up every night and take him home.
I remember when cops were more than a paramilitary. They were wise.
I had a friend whose father died when he was a teen. One week later his paternal grandmother who lived with him died. Less than one week after that his grandfather who also lived with them died. All three died within ten days.
The Supporting Information link works.
warm beer used to be called Rodeo cool....
I said that the news reports said it was cancer.
He said that cancer was just the mechanism.
Who am I to argue? He's probably right.
When Anna Nicol Whatwashername went, she OD'd on some of the same drugs that killed her son. I'd call that a bad habit with a vendetta.
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