Since ancient times, our folk songs and stories have told of how grief can cause us to die of a broken heart.
Where does the disease begin? Scientists provide the answer.
Now, scientists say they have discovered the powerful physical links between our minds and bodies that actually cause such damage. The good news is that by understanding how our emotions drive our brains to physically affect our bodies, scientists believe they can develop revolutionary new ways to treat serious conditions like chronic pain and cancer.
Doctors have long known that trauma can damage our hearts. In its most extreme form, in a condition called broken heart syndrome, or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, stressful events cause the heart muscle to suddenly weaken, which can lead to death.
Grief and loss can also cause greater, though less immediately catastrophic, damage, according to a new study by researchers in Sweden who examined the health records of more than two million parents.
This found that those who had lost a child had more than double the risk of developing atrial fibrillation — a condition in which the heart beats erratically and greatly increases the risk of stroke — according to the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health in March.
Dr. Dang Wei, the epidemiologist who led the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, told Good Health: "Individuals who have lost a close family member have a higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation, heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure than those who have not."
Hedva Heikin, an immunologist, is investigating the role of the brain region associated with positive emotions and motivation, called the ventral tegmental area (VTA).
Nature reported in February that its post-mortem studies on mice show they suffer far less scarring from heart attacks when the VTA was electronically stimulated.
She says that activating the VTA (Variable Tract) center for positive emotion in the brain appears to trigger immunological changes that help reduce scar tissue damage. She and her colleagues are now investigating how this happens, in order to enable clinicians to harness this positive power of the mind.
Taking regular naps may help ward off a risk that occurs as we age.
Meanwhile, other studies are revealing vital evidence about how the VTA plays an important role in other serious disorders, particularly chronic pain.
In 2020, a study led by Professor Gerald Zamboni, a neuroscientist at the University of Calgary, Canada, showed that VTA stimulation alleviated the condition of mice with chronic pain.
Professor Zamboni wrote in Cell Reports that it stimulates the VTA to transport the powerful reward chemical dopamine to the pain-producing area of our brains (the medial prefrontal cortex).
In cases of chronic pain, it's believed that this cortex can "get stuck," producing high levels of pain perception. But Professor Zamboni says his studies show that when the VTA sends dopamine to the cortex, it blocks its activity and the sensation of pain decreases.
It is believed that positive reinforcement can also stimulate the VTA to transmit dopamine: "In humans, neural activity in the VTA is compromised under conditions of chronic pain." It is suggested that encouraging people with chronic pain to stimulate their VTA by increasing their positive levels may alleviate their symptoms.
This may seem like an unusual alternative. But it is not unlike what the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) suggests.
Two years ago, NICE issued a decree stating that medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), benzodiazepines, or opioids should not be given as first-line treatments for chronic pain because "there is no evidence that they make any difference in pain and can cause harm." Instead, it recommends two psychological approaches: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Both aim to help patients replace negative thinking with positive ways of framing their lives and futures.
Hedva Heikin says that although there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that people who think positively seem to fare better in illness, their ability to pinpoint the pathway by which such an effect occurs—and to demonstrate that it works in experiments with laboratory animals—makes it more plausible.
Carmine Pariant, professor of biological psychiatry at King's College London, welcomed the findings of this study, saying: "All these developments are exciting because we now understand the molecular pathways involved at the microscopic level."
She adds: "The idea that there is a connection between the brain and the immune system is something we have known for 50 years. However, when we suggest that physical health is caused by things that happen in the brain, people hear that it works 'on the mind' - and assume they are being told that their physical problem is just 'all in the mind'
