Most of us think of the heart as our blood pump, but it is so much more. Did you know that our heart also acts a like a little brain? Sending and receiving messages. The purpose of this blog is to share some of my fascination and hopefully show you how amazing it is.

Let’s start with its pump function. Blood from the body make its way back to the heart via a network of veins that merge into a single large vein. The blood flows into the top right chamber where it passes through a valve, into the right bottom chamber. It gets pumped to the lungs to unload the carbon dioxide waste and collect new oxygen for the body and the heart.

The blood returns to the top left chamber of the heart where it pass through a valve into the bottom left chamber. Then out to the body via a large artery that splits into smaller arteries to nourish our muscles and organs, including the heart.

 

The heart also acts like a little brain, because it is a communicator. The heart needs to evaluate information on a beat by beat basis and must “tweet” information out to the body, brain and itself. It receives information on the level of carbon dioxide or oxygen in the blood, sugar levels, presence of stress hormones, pressure levels, status of immune system and much more.

When scientists looked at the heart, they found that a normal, healthy heart did not have regular beats but was always changing. This is in response to what is happening in the body and is crucial for maintaining a “normal or sweet” range called homeostasis.

For example, say you are about to do a presentation to a group of people and you are nervous. You will notice your heart starts racing a mile a minute. It has detected a stressful event through “messages,” via hormones, chemicals and electrical signals.

The heart is being told that the body must prepare for fight or flight. The heart does this by increasing its heart rate so blood can move quickly throughout the body. The heart muscles receive signals to contract more often from special nodes within the heart. These nodes are our “pacemakers.”

A sign of an unhealthy heart is if it becomes more regular in its beats. Why? Because the heart has lost its ability to respond to change. This puts the heart at risk of a sudden heart attack. The heart stopped listening to the news and didn’t know there was a storm coming and could not respond in time.
One way the heart loses its ability to adapt to change is through inactivity. When you are not active the demand on the heart is low because the body and muscles don’t require as much blood and oxygen pumping around. Now this alone is not a big deal except that over time the muscles get weaker and stiffer, the blood vessels don’t expand much and start to build up plaque.

Why does it matter? It matters because when a situation comes along that requires more from your heart it can be in that moment when the heart fails to respond appropriately. When it does fail, the heart sends out SOS messages out to the body and brain.

For example if you have a heart attack, the heart will release specific proteins that are only released when heart muscle has been damaged. Doctors in the hospital will do blood work looking for these proteins if they suspect you have suffered a heart attack.

So now a quick bit from my physiotherapy side because I want your heart to be strong and healthy. There are 1440 minutes in a day, if you can dedicate 20-30 minutes a day to moderate physical activity it will decrease your risk of heart attack or stroke.

But I have a slightly different challenge for you. I want you to pick an activity you enjoy. While doing it, I want you to pay close attention to what your heart feels like and how it changes with activity and rest. By doing this you can witness firsthand the magic of the heart and perhaps may be a motivator to continue challenging your heart in a good way.

So lets put the flow back into blood flow and get our bodies moving.

Madelaine Golec - ECO Physiotherapy in mississauga

 

 

Written By: Madelaine Golec PT

References:
Intelligence in the Flesh by Guy Claxton. (Book)
Wikipedia. Fight or Flight Response. Accessed on January 2, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response.
Whitaker, Robert, H. Anatomy of the heart. 2014. Medicine 42(8): 406-408.
Golbidi, S and Ismail Laher. 2012. Exercise and the cardiovascular system: review article. Cardiology Research and Practice.
Cleveland Clinic. Heart & Blood vessels: How does the heart beat.  Accessed on January 9, 2017 from http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/heart-blood-vessels-heart-beat

The Little Brain In Our Heart