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We all know that emotions originate in the brain. But we usually talk about our emotions coming from our hearts. If someone you know doesn't give up easily, you might say, "He's got a lot of heart." Not every culture would agree — for instance, when Italians want to say someone has heart, they say instead, "Ha fegato": "He has liver."
But what about bad emotions? When you feel so sad or so angry that your heart "aches," could it actually be true? Two new studies add support to the theory that, yes, what goes on in your mind can, literally, break your heart.
In the first study, just published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (J.A.C.C.,) a team of eight researchers looking at more than 63,000 women who were participants in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study, found that those who reported basic symptoms of depression (like feeling down and incapable of happiness) had a higher-than-normal risk of coronary heart disease. And women who were clinically depressed were more than twice as likely as other women to suffer sudden cardiac death. None of the participants had heart problems at the study's outset, but nearly 8% had symptoms of depression.
The researchers theorize that depression might have some direct physiological impact on the heart — like causing it to work harder in the face of stress. The study also found that the more depressed women were, the more likely they were to smoke cigarettes or have high blood pressure and diabetes — not exactly heart-healthy conditions. Or it may be that the antidepressants prescribed to treat those with mood problems were associated with heart ailments; in the study, sudden cardiac death was linked more strongly with antidepressant use than with women's symptoms of depression.
The antidepressant theory is just that — a theory. It could be that the antidepressant takers in the study were simply the most depressed. But if the theory is substantiated by further research, it would add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that antidepressants carry a high risk (particularly for teenagers) when weighed against the drugs' still uncertain benefits. Scientists have already shown that antidepressants are a bad idea for those about to undergo coronary artery bypass surgery.
No one is sure exactly how depression hurts the heart, and one plausible explanation is that the train runs in the opposite direction — a damaged heart and its consequent stress on the body might activate, somehow, genes or other physiological changes that contribute to depression.
But another new paper, also published in the J.A.C.C., lends credence to the idea that it is our moods that work on our hearts and not the other way around. In this paper, researchers from University College London reviewed the findings of 39 previously published articles and found that men who are angry and hostile are significantly more likely to have a cardiac event than those who aren't. That may sound unsurprising — we all know that anger can stress your heart. But it's important to note the difference between aggression and just being aggressive. Previous studies (here's one) have found that so-called type A's — those who are driven, competitive and obsessed with deadlines — are not more likely to experience heart disease. In other words, your type A co-workers who are annoyingly ambitious and dutiful are no more likely to have a heart attack than you are. Rather, it's the seething, angry types with underlying hostility who are the ticking time bombs. Anger, it turns out, is physiologically toxic.
The authors of the second paper offer the standard theories about how an angry emotion translates to a physical heart attack: angry people have a harder time sleeping; they take prescribed drugs less often; they eat worse, exercise less, smoke more and are fatter. These things add up: compared with the good-humored, those who were angry and hostile — but had no signs of heart problems at the outset — ended up with a 19% higher risk of developing coronary heart disease, according to the University College London paper.
The two studies reify gender stereotypes: women get their hearts broken through sadness; men "break" their hearts (via heart attack) through anger. But both studies suggest that men and women have a common interest in understanding that some causes of cardiac disease — poor diet or lack of exercise or bad sleep habits — may have a precipitating cause themselves. Whether male or female, letting yourself get overwhelmed by emotion can damage not only your mind but also that crucial organ, the heart.
我们都知道情感是产生于大脑的，但通常我们会说自己的情感是由心而生的，比如心疼、心酸、心痛、心里甜蜜等等，如果我们觉得某个人不轻易吐露自己的真实想法，我们会说他心机很深。不是所有的文化都认同这一点，比如，当意大利人想表达人心思多，他们会说，"Ha fegato":“他有肝。”（He has liver.）
那消极的情感怎么样呢？但你感到很伤心或者很愤怒，你会心“痛”，这是真的吗？两项最新的研究加强了这一观点，是的，这些情感的确会让你心碎。
在第一个研究中，最近才发表在美国心脏病学院报上（J.A.C.C.,），由8人组成的研究团队研究了正在进行中的护士健康研究项目参与者中的63，000名女性，结果发现那些据说有抑郁症状（很失落、不开心）的女性跟正常人比有比较高的冠心病比例。在临床上被诊断为抑郁症的人患心脏性猝死的比例是其他人的两倍。在研究开始的时候没有参与者是有心脏病的，但差不多8%有抑郁症状。
研究者创立了一个理论——抑郁可能对心脏有直接的生理上影响，像在面临紧张的时候心跳会加速。研究还发现，女性抑郁的程度越深，有烟瘾、患高血压、糖尿病的可能性就越高，这都对心脏健康不利�；蛐矸ǘǖ闹瘟魄樾魑侍獾目挂钟粢┪锒孕脑嘁灿幸恍└弊饔�；在研究中，抗抑郁剂导致的突发心脏猝死的比例远比抑郁症本身高。
抗抑郁剂理论只是一个理论。研究中的使用者通常是非常抑郁，但是如果有进一步的研究来证实这一理论的话，可能会有更多的证据证明它比药物（未确定副作用）的使用风险更大（尤其是对年轻人）。科学家已经证明对于准备进行心脏搭桥手术的患者来说抗抑郁剂真不是什么好东西。
没有人能确定抑郁到底是怎样影响心脏的，一个似是而非的解释是逆向推理（the train runs in the opposite direction ）——一颗受损的心脏以及它对身体产生的继发性紧张某种程度上可能会影响基因或者其他生理上的变化，从而导致抑郁的产生。
但是另一篇也发表在J.A.C.C.上的新论文认为，是我们的情绪作用于心脏而不是其他什么因素。在这篇论文里，伦敦大学学院的研究人员回顾了先前发表的39篇文章的调查结果，发现有愤怒和敌对情绪的人患心脏病的几率显著高于心态平和的人。这似乎没什么好奇怪的，我们都知道生气会让心脏紧张。但是值得注意的是攻击和具有攻击性是不同的。先前的调查发现，所谓的A型——那些被工作任务逼迫、处于竞争性环境中、被最后期限困扰的人——不太可能患心脏病�；痪浠八担隳切┍挥薪⌒暮褪姑械娜税У耐碌眯脑嗖〉目赡苄员饶愕�。有时候愤怒是一种潜在的敌对情绪，像定时炸弹一样，一触即发。它是生理毒药。
第二份论文的作者给出了愤怒情绪转化成生理上心脏病的标准理论：愤怒的人睡眠都不会太好，然后会用些药，他们吃不好、运动很少、抽烟多、越变越胖。这些因素叠加起来，跟心情愉快的人相比，那些愤怒易发火的人——但是在一开始没有任何心脏问题症状——最终有发展成冠心病的风险比普通人高19%，根据伦敦大学学院报。
这两个研究都证实了性别模式化理论，女性心碎因为忧伤，男性心碎因为愤怒。但两个理论都表明女性和女性在理解心脏病成因的问题上有共识——营养不良或者缺乏运动后者睡眠习惯不好——有些原因他们自己都能预见。不管男性还是女性，如果你被情绪打倒，不仅你的精神会受伤，你的重要器官——心脏也一样。
