[Dr. Ham's Mind PT] Cardiologist recommends 'controlling your mind'
# Modern life is hard on the heart. Unlike people in the pastoral era who were relaxed and leisurely, people in the high-speed information age live with all kinds of stress, including tension, anxiety, fear, and anger, 24 hours a day.
When looking at the top 10 causes of death in Korea, heart disease ranks second after cancer. <See chart> If you add cerebrovascular disease (4th), Alzheimer's disease (7th), and hypertension (10th), cardiovascular-related diseases account for half of the deaths.
Eam Taekyoung : Almost all diseases, except for traumatic diseases, are directly or indirectly linked to poor blood circulation. Cancer is no exception. Poor circulation is caused by poor posture and breathing.
In fact, the mind and the heart are inextricably linked. The heart is the first organ that can physically feel the state of mind.
When you feel strong emotions like joy, anger, or fear, your heart beats faster. When fear strikes, the heart is shocked with a "thud". On the other hand, during milder emotions, such as crushes and excitement, the heart is racing and pounding. It slows down when you're relaxed and slows down even more when you go to sleep.
This is all part of the autonomic nervous system, which is difficult to control. In particular, peace of mind is directly related to the health of the heart. No matter how strong your will is or how mature your character is, if your heart is weak or beating uncontrollably, it is difficult to find peace of mind. A healthy heart leads to a healthy mind.
Eam Taekyoung : The expression "the heart is an autonomic nervous system that is difficult to control with human will" seems to be half right and half wrong. This is because it is difficult to control directly and consciously, but it can be controlled indirectly and through habitual training.
What do cardiologists think about the causal relationship between the mind and the heart?
# Dr. Michael Roizen, a professor at the State University of New York Medical Center who was named "America's Top Doctor" for nine consecutive years in the 1990s, explains in his medical bestseller, You: The Owner's Manual.
✔ High levels of negativity are bad for your heart and can add nine years to your life expectancy.
✔ People with depression are four times more likely to have a heart attack than those without.
✔ In the 30 days after September 11, 2001, heart attacks tripled in Washington, New York, Chicago, Missouri, Kansas, and Alabama.
Dr. Park Sung-wook (67), who is considered an authority on angina treatment and coronary stenting in Korea, said.
"The hypothesis that the state of mind or stress directly affects the heart has not yet been clearly established medically, but it is true that the sympathetic nervous system of modern people is very hyperactive, which puts a strain on the heart, and there are many cases of this in real life."
There are cases of normal people suddenly having a heart attack due to extreme stress, such as the death of a spouse or loss of a job, and there are also many patients with stress cardiomyopathy (takotsubo cardiomyopathy) who show symptoms of acute myocardial infarction even though they have no cardiovascular abnormalities.
Eam Taekyoung : Why is the sympathetic nervous system of modern people so hyperactive? We are living in a modern society that is rapidly transitioning to a sedentary society with a body that has evolved for running-centered activities. More specifically, our hunched posture is causing our chest space to become compressed and slowly shrink, which in turn reduces our total daily breathing capacity. Overall, the decrease in total respiratory volume and the decrease in the time between stiffness and relaxation of the muscles on the left and right sides of the body centered on the spine are the main causes of poor blood circulation.
In addition, there are cases where people who complain of having a fast heartbeat even though they do not have cardiovascular disease are referred to psychiatry, and vice versa.
Eam Taekyoung : Metals generally have a yield strength and a tensile strength. Yield strength refers to the external force that starts to change the length or shape when the given external force disappears, and tensile strength refers to the external force that starts to break the metal. In the modern world, we tend to live our lives in a hunched posture and under constant low-intensity stress. As a result, our physical and psychological yield and tensile strengths are getting lower and lower. Even a small amount of excessive physical and mental disturbance in our daily lives can easily cause us to reach our yield or tensile strength.
The biggest concern is an acute myocardial infarction due to atherosclerosis, which can be fatal. It's worth noting that about half of these patients don't have any major cardiovascular problems. Suddenly, they're under a lot of stress and are at risk for atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and sudden death.
# The things that help the heart and blood vessels are known to be lifestyle habits that control smoking, diabetes, and obesity, and dietary habits that avoid bad cholesterol. Dr. Park also recommends "walking in the fresh air and sweaty aerobic exercise."
Eam Taekyoung : Quitting smoking and eating habits are important, but even more important is posture. Maintaining a posture that is more than a straight face in daily life naturally leads to deep breathing, which increases the total amount of breathing per day and reduces fatigue substances that occur in daily life. It also reduces the scope of capillaries, which is a sign of poor circulation.
A normal human pulse ranges from 60 to 100 (usually 60 to 80) in one minute. The slower the pulse rate, the stronger the heart. It indicates a high volume of blood being pushed through the arteries at once. Some basketball or marathon runners have pulse rates in the 40s per minute.
With a slower pulse rate, the heart is working less. Aerobic exercise is the best way to slow your heart rate and build stronger heart muscle than any medication or food.
Eam Taekyoung : The heart is designed to beat in synchronization with the speed of your steps. When you walk or run, your steps per minute and your heart rate (cadence) are about the same. In the case of a marathon, the average steps per minute and heart rate per minute are both around 150. Both of these values get smaller and smaller as the speed of travel decreases. This means that when your body is running, your cardiovascular system is beating at roughly the same frequency as the number of repetitions of the load on your legs.
This, in turn, means that the left and right muscles and the cardiovascular system are optimized to tense and relax in equal cycles. Therefore, the healthier an individual is, the more likely they are to have a complete cycle of tension and relaxation in their left and right lumbar muscles, which is the same cycle as the number of steps they take. This means that the more time you spend in a posture, such as sitting in a slouched position with both the left and right lumbar muscles tense, the worse your health may be.
Therefore, modern people should try to walk as slowly as possible for the sake of their heart health.
Dr. Park has a philosophy of 'emptying the mind' - the more empty the better. On weekends, he and his wife go mountain climbing, sweating and enjoying the scenery. He asks himself if it's not meditation when you control your breathing and walk cautiously and without any distractions on a rugged mountain trail. He visits mountains, national parks, and small islands off the southern coast of Halliday Island whenever he can.
The second way he clears his mind is through giving. When he makes a donation or volunteers his medical skills, he feels relaxed.
"I don't particularly care about the afterlife, but I plan to live and die as I normally do, and I won't leave much to my children, but I will use what I can and donate the rest," Dr. Park said.
Eam Taekyoung : The philosophy of emptiness, mountain climbing, scenic viewing, walking, meditation, giving, and going with the flow. The word that runs through these all is breathing. Deep breathing.
Dr. Park, who joined Asan Medical Center as a professor of cardiology when it opened in 1989 and is still practicing on the front lines, served as the president of Asan Medical Center (2011-2016) and is now the president of Asan Medical Center (2021-). What is his secret?
"I do my best to do my job, but I try to forget the bad thoughts that arise while working as much as possible. Rather than trying to force them out or suppress them, I try to put them on the back burner and let them fade away as I engage in exercise or other good things."
#HamYoungJoon #Michael #Roizen #ParkSungWook #heart #disease #mind
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