You can't sleep. Food doesn't taste good. Your mind won't focus. Your blood pressure is sky high and, if you didn't know better, you'd swear your heart is tearing in two. Diagnosis: You've just checked into Heartbreak Hotel. Few realize it, but the stress and trauma of breaking up with a partner, having a nasty fight with a friend or experiencing a shattering rift within a family can have devastating physical effects. Triggered by anxiety, grief and sadness, the body's chemistry goes into overdrive while the brain's limbic system -- a warehouse of every emotional response you've ever had -- more or less dumps a lifetime worth of disappointment in your lap. The result? For starters, there's that feeling that your heart is so full of emotion that it just might burst. "We think that it's from a big surge of stress hormones like adrenaline," explains Hunter Champion, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Boston and codiscoverer of broken heart syndrome, or stress cardiomyopathy. "We think it happens quite often and in varying degrees. In extreme cases, people who are quite emotional can have trouble breathing, as well as have chest pain, and their heart function is lower than normal, so it feels like a heart attack."
All in your head -- and body
Real or imagined, a broken heart sets off a domino effect of health issues that cascade from your head to your toes.
Grief, sadness and anxiety all stimulate the limbic system, structures in the oldest part of the brain that control emotions, arousal, cravings, motivation, mood and memories. Any upheaval to the limbic system causes chemicals called neurotransmitters to falter, or fall, like the second domino. Neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, are the brain's mood-regulators; if their production is disturbed, so too are your stress reactions, emotions, sleep, appetite and sex drive.
And those stress hormones that make you heavy-hearted -- particularly cortisol -- also deplete brain-cell-protecting mineral and vitamin stores by up to 33 per cent, leading to a weakened immune system, a higher risk of heart disease and even cancer. Cortisol has another disheartening side-effect -- it can make you gain weight. High cortisol levels actually cause hunger pangs and stimulate fat and carbohydrate metabolism. Your appetite goes up, along with your weight. And not just any weight. Stress-related fat unhappily lands around the tummy, possibly because abdominal fat is loaded with cortisol receptors.
How to mend your broken heart
Time may be a great healer, but in the meantime you can help ease the pain -- and its impact on your health -- with some heartfelt remedies.
Eating for your heart
Friends rally to ease your pain -- with a tub of caramel swirl ice cream and (brace yourself) those wicked king-size peanut butter cups. Be strong and say no. According to a study by the Food and Mood Project in the U.K., sugar, fat and carbs only add to your cortisol woes. A hit of caffeine compounds the problem by dehydrating the body, raising stress hormones further and causing fatigue. Steer clear of coffee, tea and sweets.
On the other hand, if your stomach churns at the very thought of food, things are also bound to worsen. Neurotransmitters need amino acids -- created in the body and by metabolizing food -- as their building blocks. The amino acids themselves control anxiety, depression, mental alertness, memory, alcoholism and cravings. Fall short in the right amino acids and the negative impact is inevitable, warns Andrew Greenshaw, a professor and associate director of the neurochemical research unit at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. "When we look at recent studies, you can get a measurable shift in emotional response with some amino acids," he says. Eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of protein, which will ensure a steady supply of amino acids, says Greenshaw.
That's not all a good diet can do. Finnish scientists studying depression found that vitamin B12 and folic acid support the work of mood-regulating serotonin and help rid the body of homocysteine, a protein byproduct that exacerbates depression and is linked to heart disease. In their study, the Finns found that patients with the highest levels of B12 managed their illness the best. So replenish your body with a mineral and B-complex supplement.
Click to continue...
Page 1 of 2
|
more articles
