The profound effect the heart-brain connection has on your health
Why it matters: Understanding the heart-brain axis can lead to new interventions that improve patient recovery and reduce complications from heart disease.
- Research published last year found that classical music played during surgery significantly lowered blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate, leading to fewer complications and less pain post-operation.
- Girish Viswanathan, a cardiologist at University Hospitals Plymouth, UK, confirms these findings provide scientific proof for the long-observed influence of the mind on the heart, even during major surgery.
- Mitchell Elkind at the American Heart Association emphasizes that understanding the brain and heart as one integrated system fundamentally changes approaches to prevention and treatment.
- The World Stroke Organization formally recognized the heart-brain axis in 2019, describing it as a two-way communication network, a concept that evolved from earlier assumptions of one-way traffic from brain to heart.
New research highlights the profound, two-way connection between the heart and brain, revealing it's deeper and more powerful than previously understood. This integrated system, formally recognized as the heart-brain axis, suggests that interventions like music can significantly impact physiological responses, even during surgery, leading to better patient outcomes.
