I am seeking to better understand WHY depression occurs after changes to the heart. The pump being used during OHS probably does account for some of it, but that doesn’t explain depression after heart attacks and bypasses. I’ve been googling and have come across some interesting sites. Here are a couple of them:
The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning
http://www.edutopia.org/richard-davidson-sel-brain-video
This is fascinating stuff. Overview:
- Changing behavior can change our brain (we’ve all heard that “fake it ’till you make it” and “act as if” can be useful tools, this video makes those concepts seem much more compelling by explaining HOW the brain processes those actions).
- Changing behavior can cause more brain changes than medications.
- The prefrontal cortex, which is engaged when we use positive emotion in decision making, is connected to the amygdala (the part of the brain that detects threats and generates negative emotions). A stronger connection seems to enable faster recovery from negative events.
- We can train ourselves to generate greater activity in the prefrontal cortex and in turn strengthen the connection to the amygdala. (Social and emotional learning).
- Regulating emotion is important not just to happiness but also to health. Studies show adolescents with strong prefrontal cortex activation in response to negative events tend to have lower levels of cortisol. Higher cortisol takes a toll on many organs, including the brain.
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Another interesting site is
http://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart.html
It discusses the “heart brain” which is the intrinsic cardiac nervous system containing neural pathways that facilitate communication between the heart and the brain.
Also, this was news to me, that the heart was reclassified as an endocrine gland in 1983 and it releases a hormone called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF).
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This is just the “tip of the iceberg” in my attempt to understand how the brain and heart are connected. There are a lot of brilliant minds on vr.com. Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic?
The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning
http://www.edutopia.org/richard-davidson-sel-brain-video
This is fascinating stuff. Overview:
- Changing behavior can change our brain (we’ve all heard that “fake it ’till you make it” and “act as if” can be useful tools, this video makes those concepts seem much more compelling by explaining HOW the brain processes those actions).
- Changing behavior can cause more brain changes than medications.
- The prefrontal cortex, which is engaged when we use positive emotion in decision making, is connected to the amygdala (the part of the brain that detects threats and generates negative emotions). A stronger connection seems to enable faster recovery from negative events.
- We can train ourselves to generate greater activity in the prefrontal cortex and in turn strengthen the connection to the amygdala. (Social and emotional learning).
- Regulating emotion is important not just to happiness but also to health. Studies show adolescents with strong prefrontal cortex activation in response to negative events tend to have lower levels of cortisol. Higher cortisol takes a toll on many organs, including the brain.
===================================
Another interesting site is
http://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart.html
It discusses the “heart brain” which is the intrinsic cardiac nervous system containing neural pathways that facilitate communication between the heart and the brain.
Also, this was news to me, that the heart was reclassified as an endocrine gland in 1983 and it releases a hormone called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF).
====================================
This is just the “tip of the iceberg” in my attempt to understand how the brain and heart are connected. There are a lot of brilliant minds on vr.com. Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic?