Heartbreak and Heart Disease

Résumé du livre

Is heartbreak a coronary risk factor? Are suppressed emotions dangerous? Do negative feelings such as abandonment, betrayal, or humiliation create a fertile field in which disease can take root? What role can positive emotions such as love, faith and good humor play in the process of healing and staying well? Drawing on his extensive experience treating heart disease and on dramatic findings in the field of mind/body medicine, Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra provides pioneering answers to these fascinating questions. Stress has joined hereditary, diet and lifestyle factors as a disease danger sign, but Sinatra goes further, exploring the mysterious way that the mind, body and spirit work together to encourage or protect against heart disease, the West's leading killer. He shows, for instance, how people who have experienced a form of "heartbreak" often get angry, stifle these feelings and, as a result, become almost literally "hard-hearted". He explores why the most heart-damaging aspect of the famous Type-A personality is chronic hostility and how the stress hormones pumped out by the adrenal glands of a Type-A individual can directly contribute to coronary artery blockages. Sinatra's prescription, illustrated by inspiring case histories, is to reopen the heart by releasing long-repressed emotions. To accomplish this he uses breathing exercises and body movements that soften muscular tension in the head, neck, chest and abdomen and restore a freer flow not only of blood but also of life energy. Because Sinatra has found psychospiritual factors crucial, he also prescribes sharing with others in a supportive group setting and becoming open to spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer andvisualization.