The heart is considered as the center of wisdom, passion, and emotions by many a people. This emanates from the fact that people report experiencing emotional states and the feeling love in the area of the heart. However, these feelings have been conventionally attributed to the brain. Recent studies have disputed this fact with physiological mechanisms being explored to ascertain how the heart communicates with the brain and as such influence the health, emotions, perceptions, and processing of information. Such studies have thus provided ground to explain the phenomena of the heart with regard to emotional balance, creativity, and mental clarity.
Whenever an individual experiences emotional changes in the brain, there are corresponding changes in digestion, respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate. Therefore, upon arousal, the sympathetic part of the nervous system energizes an individual to react in flight or fight while the parasympathetic aspect of the nervous system triggers calm. The autonomic nervous system together with the physiological response acts in the same manner as the brain when induced to a given stimulus. This paper thus seeks to discuss the communication that takes place between the heart and the brain and investigate whether the heart has a brain. The Fundamental Role of the Heart The heart has been found to function in a two-way dialogue with the brain whereby the heart and the entire cardiovascular system sends afferent signals to brain thereby regulating various aspects of the autonomous nervous system, such as glands. The cardiovascular afferents connects with the major brain centers, for instance, the amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus to assist in determining the human emotional experiences, thought processes, as well as perceptions. Research in the neurocardiological field has played a critical role in establishing that the heart functions as both a sensory organ and a center for encoding and processing information using an intrinsic nervous system that is qualifies as a heart brain. Moreover, the circuitry of the heart works by allowing the heart to learn, remember, and functionally decide without consulting the cranial brain. Therefore, the heart consists of a complex, intrinsic nervous system that is self-organized and with the ability to reorganize itself through new short and long term neural connections. The heart and brain Studies have established that the heart communicates with the brain thereby affecting human beings’ perceptions and reactions. …show more content…
According to the studies, the heart possesses its own peculiar logic quite divergent from the path of the autonomic nervous system. The heart thus sends meaningful messages to the brain that were responded to. This is attributed to the neural pathway and mechanism from which an input from the heart to the brain works to facilitate or inhibit electrical activity to the brain. As such, the heart is said to contain a functional brain of its own through its complex intrinsic nervous system.
The brain of the heart is composed of an intricate network of different types of neurons, support cells, proteins, and neurotransmitters. This network has an elaborate circuitry responsible for cranial brain’s independent action, for instance, sensing, learning, and memory. Further, the nervous system of the heart consist over 40,000 neurons known as sensory neurites. These enable information transmitted from the heart to pass through several afferents that enter the brain at the medulla area before moving to the higher centers of the brain. At the higher centers of the brain, the afferent nerve pathways work to influence the brain’s cognitive processes, decision-making, and perception. Therefore, this network shows that the heart contains its own intrinsic nervous system that is responsible for operating and processing information independent of the central nervous system. The heart thus uses these nerve fibers to communicate with the brain, a feat that allows for successful heart transplant as the transplanted heart becomes capable of functioning through its intrinsic nervous system’s capacity. When an individual recollects a positive emotion or imagines a pleasurable scene, their heart rate variability is transitioned towards a coherence phase. Such coherence in the heart rhythm produces an immense impact on the emotional brain thereby leading to physiological stability. As such, the emotional brain responds by a reinforcement of the heart’s coherence. Such interplay produces a virtuous circle thereby
Whenever an individual experiences emotional changes in the brain, there are corresponding changes in digestion, respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate. Therefore, upon arousal, the sympathetic part of the nervous system energizes an individual to react in flight or fight while the parasympathetic aspect of the nervous system triggers calm. The autonomic nervous system together with the physiological response acts in the same manner as the brain when induced to a given stimulus. This paper thus seeks to discuss the communication that takes place between the heart and the brain and investigate whether the heart has a brain. The Fundamental Role of the Heart The heart has been found to function in a two-way dialogue with the brain whereby the heart and the entire cardiovascular system sends afferent signals to brain thereby regulating various aspects of the autonomous nervous system, such as glands. The cardiovascular afferents connects with the major brain centers, for instance, the amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus to assist in determining the human emotional experiences, thought processes, as well as perceptions. Research in the neurocardiological field has played a critical role in establishing that the heart functions as both a sensory organ and a center for encoding and processing information using an intrinsic nervous system that is qualifies as a heart brain. Moreover, the circuitry of the heart works by allowing the heart to learn, remember, and functionally decide without consulting the cranial brain. Therefore, the heart consists of a complex, intrinsic nervous system that is self-organized and with the ability to reorganize itself through new short and long term neural connections. The heart and brain Studies have established that the heart communicates with the brain thereby affecting human beings’ perceptions and reactions. …show more content…
According to the studies, the heart possesses its own peculiar logic quite divergent from the path of the autonomic nervous system. The heart thus sends meaningful messages to the brain that were responded to. This is attributed to the neural pathway and mechanism from which an input from the heart to the brain works to facilitate or inhibit electrical activity to the brain. As such, the heart is said to contain a functional brain of its own through its complex intrinsic nervous system.
The brain of the heart is composed of an intricate network of different types of neurons, support cells, proteins, and neurotransmitters. This network has an elaborate circuitry responsible for cranial brain’s independent action, for instance, sensing, learning, and memory. Further, the nervous system of the heart consist over 40,000 neurons known as sensory neurites. These enable information transmitted from the heart to pass through several afferents that enter the brain at the medulla area before moving to the higher centers of the brain. At the higher centers of the brain, the afferent nerve pathways work to influence the brain’s cognitive processes, decision-making, and perception. Therefore, this network shows that the heart contains its own intrinsic nervous system that is responsible for operating and processing information independent of the central nervous system. The heart thus uses these nerve fibers to communicate with the brain, a feat that allows for successful heart transplant as the transplanted heart becomes capable of functioning through its intrinsic nervous system’s capacity. When an individual recollects a positive emotion or imagines a pleasurable scene, their heart rate variability is transitioned towards a coherence phase. Such coherence in the heart rhythm produces an immense impact on the emotional brain thereby leading to physiological stability. As such, the emotional brain responds by a reinforcement of the heart’s coherence. Such interplay produces a virtuous circle thereby