Heart
Energy Medicine
The
heart is an organ whose functioning
is enhanced by joy, appreciation
and passion. The six basic emotions
we need to recognize and respond
to, in order to create heart health
are: love, joy, anger, sadness,
fear and shame. If you are able
to feel your emotions fully and
let them flow through you, the
vessel-constricting biochemical
effect of negative emotions on
your cardiovascular system will
be minimal, while the effect of
positive emotions opens the vessels,
optimizing blood flow and nourishing
your tissues. (Remember—all
emotions have a purpose and are
important.)
Some
women experience heart symptoms
related to emotions such as panic,
fear, and depression. Learning
to work with your emotions allows
you to live fully, communicate
with others, and become motivated
to make needed changes in your
life. Biofeedback or cognitive
behavioral therapy can help dramatically
with these symptoms, as can several
supplements that support heart
health.
Heart Disease
Heart
disease is the leading killer
of postmenopausal women. In women
over fifty-five, estrogen deficiency
has been commonly thought to be
a significant cause of heart disease.
In the famous women nurse's study,
however, researchers found that
if a woman had very few risk factors
for heart disease to begin with,
estrogen therapy did not significantly
impact her survival rate. Estrogen
does have some independent beneficial
effect on the blood vessels of
the heart themselves, but there
are no grounds for believing that
estrogen replacement is essential
for the prevention of heart disease
in all women, as so many other
variables are involved.
Among
the many other characteristics
that create a risk of heart disease,
chief is increased insulin resistance,
which is present to some degree
in 50 to 75 percent of women in
the United States. An enormous
amount of data exists on the link
between nutrition and heart disease,
particularly with regard to the
ill effects of excess insulin
and the benefits of antioxidants.
A 1997 study demonstrated that
a diet too high in carbohydrates
and too low in fat was likely
to increase the risk of heart
disease because of its adverse
effects on lipids and insulin.
The authors concluded that given
their results, "it seems
reasonable to question the wisdom
of recommending that postmenopausal
women consume low-fat, high-carbohydrate
diets" (see Reference 1,
link below). If you have any personal
or family history of heart disease,
I'd recommend following the dietary
recommendations in the following
books: Protein Power by
Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades;
The Schwarzbein Principle books by Dr. Diana
Schwarzbein; and The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program by Kathleen DesMaisons.
The
high rate of heart disease in
our society is related to a lifestyle
that includes high consumption
of trans-fatty acids (including
hydrogenated oils) and refined
carbohydrates, combined with inadequate
exercise and protein, all of which
sets the stage for an eicosanoid
imbalance at the cellular level,
creating a predisposition to hypertension,
diabetes, and heart disease (see
Reference 2, link below). By contrast,
a diet that contains fish oil
has been found to reduce the incidence
of heart disease in a number of
studies. In fact, a recent study
found definitive evidence that
the risk of fatal heart attack
in men is inversely related to
the amount of fish consumed in
their diet, because of the beneficial
effects on the cardiovascular
system of omega–3 fatty
acids found in fish oil. The same
results would probably hold true
for women, as well. I'd recommend
two servings of sardines, mackerel,
salmon, or swordfish per week (see
Reference 3, link below). If you
are a vegetarian or do not care
for these fish, consuming high-quality
flax seed can be beneficial. Another option is to take DHA, a specific type of highly
beneficial omega–3 fat,
as a supplement made from algae.
In
general, a diet that is neither
too high nor too low in fat and
relatively low in carbohydrates
should be encouraged for anyone
with a family history of diabetes,
hypertension, or heart disease.
Weight-bearing
exercise can also be very helpful
because it lowers insulin resistance
dramatically. It increases lean
muscle, and because lean muscle
mass has a higher metabolic rate
than fat, it helps to burn excess
body fat and thus lower the risk
of heart disease. Women who perform
such exercise live an average
of six years longer than those
who do not.
While
the role of diet, exercise, and
supplementation is important,
understanding the language of
the heart is the most important
way for you to prevent or recover
from heart disease. A healthy
and functioning cardiovascular
system is inextricably related
to the regular expression of joy,
and creativity, and in the end,
free expression of a full range
of emotions may be the best prevention
for heart disease.
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Further Reading:
For
discussion regarding The Midlife Heart, visit the site's Menopause section. Extensive coverage of midlife
heart health can be found in my
book, The Wisdom of Menopause, Chapter 14, "Living
with Heart, Passion, and Joy:
How to Listen to and Love Your
Midlife Heart."
In
addition, I have written about
heart health in past issues
of my monthly newsletter, Health Wisdom for Women: August '00, pp. 4–8;
July '00, p. 3; April '00, pp.
6–8; February '00, pp. 7–8;
January '00, pp. 1–3; May
'99, p. 3; March '99, pp. 3, 6–7;
February '99, p. 2.
For
more information on "heart
thinking," see Health
Wisdom for Women,
April '96, p. 5.
For
more information on heart disease, see Health Wisdom for Women, January '00, p.
2; May '99, pp. 2–5; January
'99, p. 7; December '97, pp. 4–6;
October '97, pp. 3–6; August
'97, pp. 1–4; January '95,
p. 1; November '94, p. 6.
