Appreciating our hearts is one of the ways to keep our hearts happy and healthy. And happy hearts make good hearts! Our emotions are so intertwined with the reactions of the physical heart that when we’re happy we might say that our heart is smiling. And when our heart hears this, it beats that much happier! In ancient Egypt, it was believed that the heart was responsible for feelings and emotions because changes in heart rate were observed. Although we now know that the brain is responsible, we still observe the changes in our heart based upon our emotions and reactions to them. Every second of every day, even when we’re dreaming, our hearts are on call. Our hearts change pace to match our body’s needs in order to protect us from danger and keep us alive. Emotions can be healing as well as damaging to your heart. Think of times when you were in a great upset, when your heart was beating like a freight train, your blood pressure was up, you couldn’t think straight, and maybe you even noticed that you began to smell differently as your body went into fight or flight. This kind of stress doesn’t do any favors for your heart. On the other hand, think of times when you experienced wonderful positive feelings. Remember how good your heart felt? Perhaps it felt like that warm fuzzy feeling you got when someone did something really nice for you. Feelings like these are very healing for your heart! These examples demonstrate how everything we do, and everything we see, hear, and say to ourselves as well as others affects our health, our emotions, and our hearts. An example that comes to mind is the way in which lie detector tests work. They demonstrate how our bodies react to the things we say as well as illustrating why honesty and integrity is always the best policy – besides doing wonders for your health! In the polygraph test, the physiological responses of the subject are recorded, measured, and compared to control questions in order to determine whether or not the truth is being spoken. When we acknowledge the way our bodies react, we can see how our bodies and our hearts stay tuned in, listening and reacting to everything we say and do. What’s the big deal about taking care of our hearts? Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the USA. Of approximately 1.5 million heart attacks per year, one third of them are fatal. The good news is that heart disease is believed to be highly preventable. Now, let’s see what makes your heart tick. The heart is a very special type of muscle called an involuntary striated muscle. This type of muscle is found only in the heart and connective tissue. This is important when we discuss what oils to use for food. The average male heart beats 72 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, and 2.5 billion times a lifetime and works non-stop. The average 11 ounce heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day. The heart is also a generator of electricity. Electrical current is created as the blood flows across fibers in the heart, creating anywhere from 1 to 5 watts per beat. This is important to me in practice because when the heart flow rate is impaired, other systems in the body may not be powered to full capacity. Sometimes I find that health conditions that seem to have mysterious origins or seemingly unrelated symptoms may be due to a lowered electrical output of the heart. In such cases, chiropractic adjustments and nutritional supplementation are very effective at correcting the problem. Although eating the right foods grown the way food was meant to be grown is best, whole food supplementation helps to correct nutritional deficits more quickly. Many philosophers have given us tools to help us understand life, to help us think about what’s truly important, and how to live peacefully with our fellow beings and ourselves. A good book I’ve enjoyed recently is “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. He talks about how you can transform your life with the help of four simple agreements. Within the four agreements, we find a way to live not out of heartfelt fear but with honesty and integrity, the keys to a happy heart. Dr. William H. Karl, D.C.
