Magic Medication?

Imagine a medication that could really slow down the aging process – and I mean really! Imagine that it could also reduce stress, anxiety and depression, help us sleep better, concentrate easier, and perform more effectively at work and in life generally. Imagine further that this medication could help us gain intuitive insights whenever we needed to and even communicate better. Finally, imagine that it could make us feel happier and more self-confident. Such a medication, if it existed, would surely have huge implications for our health and would likely be flying off drugstore shelves! Whoever invented such a medication would be indescribably rich and ultimately the world would be a different place to live. A pipedream? I don’t think so.

So, do I have some special information or access to the inventor of such a wonder-drug? Yes, every day I look in the mirror. And so do you. We all have this ‘magic medication’ available to us, in our ‘internal pharmacy’ that can create the very conditions necessary for all of the above – even the slowed down ageing process! Although relatively recent in scientific ‘discovery’, this internal capacity for improving our mental, physical and emotional health has always been with us. The secret lies in the heart and the heart-brain connection - and in our innate ability to take charge of this link.

Most people know that the heart indicates levels of physical fitness. What is not so widely known is that it can also reveal our emotional state and our ability to cope under pressure. When we experience stress, or emotions like anxiety, anger or frustration, stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released into our system, causing, among other things, the heart to beat faster. The heart rate changes constantly without any physical or mental exertion. There are also minute differences in the time between each heartbeat that vary continuously. These changes in the variety of time between heart-beats is referred to as Heart Rate Variability or HRV, and create a pattern in the heart’s electrical signals. By looking at the changing pattern of these electrical signals we can determine how fit someone is - and also how well they are able to handle pressure.

HRV patterns vary immensely and on-going scientific studies find more and more sophisticated ways of characterizing HRV patterns, and how the dynamics of HRV relate to the various emotional states we experience. What scientist do know for sure, is that the HRV changes according to your emotional experience; the HRV pattern becomes more erratic and less coherent, in proportion to the degree of upset, stress or anger you feel. They also know that the heart functions like a veritable hormone plant, producing its own supply of hormones such as adrenaline (the ‘fight or flight’ hormone) and oxytocin (also called ‘the bonding hormone’) as needed, without directions from the brain. There are even studies that suggest that the heart has its own ‘intelligence’, with tens of thousands of neurons that act like a tiny ‘brain’ with its own ‘perceptions’, responses and memories. Although just the size of the brain of an insect, this intelligence does have a significant relationship with the heart’s electrical patterns and in turn their impact on the rest of the body and the brain.

The heart’s electrical pattern reflects the quality of the electrical signals emitted from the heart which travel to the brain and to every cell in the body, and which may be erratic or coherent depending on our emotional state of being. Chaotic signals result in the emission of stress hormones such as cortisol that lower our immune system and speed up the ageing process. Coherent signals on the other hand, generate the release of positive hormones such as DHEA, which slow down the ageing process! The electrical signals also effect the brain’s functioning. When the variance or HRV is low and weak, signals from the heart are chaotic and disordered; this means that the messages received by the brain are also chaotic and the result is that clear thinking is inhibited. Conversely, when the variance or HRV is high and strong, signals generated by the heart are harmonious and coherent; messages received by the brain are also coherent, giving the ‘all clear’ for the ‘thinking brain’ to activate; the result? Creative thinking, concentration, and problem solving can happen, with perceptive insights becoming more and more a norm!

So how do we create coherent signals from the heart? Amazingly, we begin with something so simple we do it automatically when we are infants – sadly, most of us ‘un-learn’ it as we grow into the stressful existence we today perceive as normal!  This ‘simple something’ is rhythmic breathing.

If you watch a newborn infant breathe, you will observe that the breathing is even and rhythmic. When you yourself are generally healthy and calm, you breathe more slowly, evenly and deeply, which affects your heart. Conversely, when you are stressed and unfit, your breathing is faster and shallower; the result is smaller changes in the heart rate, which on an on-going basis can be detrimental to not only health but also thinking! We all regulate the heart’s variance through regulating our breathing; the heart rate increases on the in-breath and decreases on the out-breath; the more slowly and evenly we breathe, the higher the variance in the heart.

The result of this is more coherent signals from the heart to the brain and an almost immediate activation of the ‘thinking brain’ and ‘happy hormones’. Reduced stress, anxiety and depression, better quality sleep, easier focus and concentration, an improved immune system, and a sense of well-being are some of the health benefits. With continued practice and honing of slow, even breathing and other emotional management skills that build heart coherence, you may experience intuitive insights, increased effectiveness at work and life in general, improved relationships and a distinctive boost in your self-confidence – as just some of the more long term side effects!

by
Jennifer Day