Science has discovered that the heart is so much more than a mechanical pump. It has its own brain and a nervous system, and constantly changes what it's doing based on its perception of your internal states. It turns out that love doesn't just feel good -- it can actually protect your heart from damage and disease, too. This viewpoint of the heart as a purely physical organ has determined the shape of modern cardiology.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Medical professionals measure heart health via blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, and heart rhythm via EKGs. And when there are problems, they're described and treated in material terms via medications and physical interventions like surgeries. At the same time, modern science is rediscovering what many traditional cultures have known since time immemorial; that the heart is much more than a physical pump. While we know that lifestyle, especially diet, has a major impact on the physical aspects or heart health, there's another factor related to heart health that's not talked about as often as it deserves to be: your emotions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The INTERHEART study enrolled over 25,000 participants in 52 countries and clearly identified several emotional stressors as key risk factors for heart disease. And continuing research is filling in the picture, as well as creating protocols for healing "broken hearts" on both the emotional and physical levels. For a long time, Western science assumed that the brain was the only part of the body that "thinks."  All the other organs and systems were, in this view, mindless automata just carrying out instructions from the brain. This theory was turned on its head by the discovery that the gut also has something of a "brain" in the form of what's known as the enteric nervous system. And more recently, researchers are coming to recognize another kind of "brain" within the heart as well -- a discovery that helped spawn the field of NEUROCARDIOLOGY.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           "Brain" here is a metaphor, referring to partifular functions: the ability to sense the environment, make decisions based on that information, and communicate those decisions throughout the body. And by those criteria, the heart does indeed have a brain, which trades information back and fourth with the head brain. Renowned cardiologist and FRN's Healthy Heart Course partner, Dr. Mimi Guarneri, calls it the body's "little brain," since it has, in her words, "its own intelligence, emotions, nervous system, and decision-making power." We know know that the heart includes the hardware to run all this brain-like software. In fact, the heart has its own nervous system, called the intrinsic cardiac nervous system (ICNS). The ICNS can manufacture and secrete hormones and operates similarly to the brain's nervous system via an intricate network of nerve clusters, neurotransmitters, proteins, and other cells.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         All the circuitry enables the heart to act independently of the brain. The heart can feel and sense your internal world (and aspects of the external world) directly, and can learn, store memories, and make decisions. And what the heart feels turns out to have a direct impact on how well it functions and how long it lasts. In short, as Dr. Guarneri puts it, your heart is a "mental, emotional, and spiritual organ with many complex connections that go well beyond pumping blood." One of the hormones that the heart manufactures is oxytocin, the so-called "cuddle" or "love" hormone that activates when we feel close to another person, a companion animal, or something greater than ourselves.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Love is a potent cardioprotective emotion. Hugging and other forms of loving touch can lower blood pressure and heart rate. Oxytocin triggers vasodilation or the widening of the arteries. When this happens, more blood can flow through the arteries, lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Laughter also puts a smile on your heart as well as your face. The act of laughing releases chemicals called beta-endorphins, part of that feel-good family of endorphins. These beta-endorphins coax-receptors on the vascular endothelium to release nitric oxide, a molecule that protects the cardiovascular system in many ways. When you laugh on a regular basis, you're at lower risk of heart attack and stroke than your more dour counterparts. And laughter reduces stiffness and damage to blood vessels as you age.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               OCEAN ROBBINS - CEO, FOOD REVOLUTION NETWORK