Research : Heart of the matter

Here is the link that will take you to the web address for my research article :) 

Have you ever heard of the cliche with heart attacks? You know, a man gets in a fight with his wife and falls over with a heart attack and ends up dead? Well scientists are actually proving this to be true! Crazy right? Now they are trying to figure something out that will save the lives of these heart attack victims. 

In fact, psychologists are trying to prove to the heart association that emotions such as stress, depression, anger, and social isolation contribute to heart attacks every day.  

In 1628, William Harvey actually linked emotions to the heart! He said that they affect the heart greatly. 

In 1897, William Osler (who is known as the father of internal meds) actually called the heart attack victim as a man who is always "at full speed ahead".

This actually influenced cardiologists in the 1950's to work with how emotions work with the heart directly. 

So why does this remain a controversy if everyone is working with it?

Last year, scientists did a study on 630 Army men and tried to link their anxiety with their risk for clogged arteries. They actually found that there was no link in emotions to their possibility to have clogged arteries at all! 

Even though some studies show emotion has no link with heart attacks, scientists still continue to work with it. A new study was conducted for older men and women to find out if anger specifically had anything to do with bad hearts.  During this they asked the subjects questions such as if they ever felt like hitting people when they were angry or if they considered themselves as an angry person. 

After four & a half years, William did a follow up with his patients and subjects. He found amazing results! The people with normal blood pressure and high scores on the anger scale were actually three times as likely to have heart problems then those with low anger. This was still true even after they controlled the subjects smoking, and eating habits. 

Emotions also play a role in recovery from a heart attack as well! Out of 896 people, the ones who were depressed after their attack were THREE times as likely to die then people who weren't! They also made another shocking discovery. Women were twice as likely to develop depression after a heart attack. Overall, 50% of women develop depression after a heart attack, whereas, only 25% of men develop depression under the same circumstances. This also goes for social interaction and support. If a patient has social support they are more likely to live then die. 

Since scientists have found this information, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Association is starting to fund places to research how they can improve the lives of people to prevent heart attacks and also improve their lifestyles after!