Love-Heart Link – Part 2

Love: A Good Medicine

Love-Heart Link – Part 2

The New York Times of 10th January 2022 published a report which would interest us (Reference 1). The report narrated the story of a 57-year-old man, David Bennett Sr. with life-threatening heart disease had received a heart from a genetically modified pig – a ground-breaking procedure followed by Dr. Bartley Griffith, the director of the cardiac transplant programme at the University of Maryland Medical Centre. The pig’s heart inside Mr Bennett Sr’s rib-cage was working normally showing normal pulse rate and blood pressure.

Mr Bennett decided to gamble on the experimental treatment because he would have died without a new heart. He had exhausted other treatments and was too sick to qualify for a human donor heart. The patient lived for two months with a strong functioning heart showing no obvious signs of rejection. (Reference 2).

The whole medical community was abuzz with speculations as to why did the patient die and several reasons were cited, seminars and symposia were held, papers were published in general and specialised medical journals but there was hardly any mention anywhere in any forum whether after the pig heart transplantation, the patient had got back his love-related emotions although biomechanically the functions were satisfactory of the transplanted heart.

The human heart is a highly emotive organ. We express our romantic emotions – our desire, satisfaction, falling in and out of love, heartbreak, betrayal and disappointment through images of the heart. We use a variety of expressions such as; heart-felt, heart-throb, to the heart’s content, heartbreak, hungry heart, heart of gold, and so on. But, how is it that the beating organ inside our chest become linked to the feelings about emotions arising out of relationships. Literature – both prose and poetry are rampant with various manifestations of love-heart link. Patients connected with the artificial heart-lung machine while they await their heart transplants can experience the difference from how the emotion of love used to affect them when the functions of their hearts were normal.

Just one example I will share. Heartbreak is both metaphorical and physical. ‘Metaphorical’ when Juliet cries mistakenly believing that Romeo is dead: “O, break my heart!!”. And ‘physical’ when heartbreak was formally recognised in the 1990s as an acute cardiac syndrome called ‘Takotsubo Syndrome’ (informally known as the ‘Heartbreak Syndrome’) (Reference 3)

Why love is good for your heart? Let me share a short list. (i) Spending time with your loved ones lowers blood pressure. (ii) When you meet a person you love a lot, your heart gets an automatic workout. (iii) Hugs are good for the heart. (iv) Laughter resulting from a love-linked interaction makes your blood flow freely. (v) Love-linked messages lower your cholesterol when you go through them. (vi) Having a successful love life reduces the risk of heart attack. (vii) Holding hands calms nerves. (viii) A happy married life is a preventive for heart disease. (ix) Married people recover better from a heart attack than those who are single. (Reference 4)

Christopher Suhar, MD, a cardiologist and director of Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine says:“I think love in your life is paramount to living a healthy lifestyle. The goal is gaining peace through love, which decreases stress and anxiety in your life and benefits your heart.” (Reference 5)

[References:1. Roni Caryn Rabin, “In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig”. The New York Times, 10th January 2022.

2. Deborah Kotz and Bill Seiler, “Patient Survived for Two Months After First-of-Its Kind Transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center”, University of Maryland Medical System, 22nd June 2022.

3. Dr Claire Hansen, “At the heart of romance: why a vital organ is linked to love”, ANU Reporter, 14th February 2023.

4. Jaimie Dalessio Clayton, “7 Reasons Love is Good for Your Heart”, Everyday Health, 23rd January 2012.

5. “How Love Affects Your Heart”, Scripps, 8th February 2022.]