Innate Ability & Health

The Source of Broken Heart Syndrome

• Ryan Kimball • Season 3 • Episode 6

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Understanding the Impact of Trauma and Stress on Heart Health

In this episode of the Innate Ability and Health podcast, with your podcast host Ryan Kimball, who discusses the connection between emotions, trauma, stress, and heart health. 

Highlighting the work with Natural Heart Doctor & Dr. Jack Wolfson on a holistic mind-body program, the episode emphasizes the importance of addressing the root causes of stress and trauma to prevent conditions like Broken Heart Syndrome. 

Ryan explains the significance of understanding and mitigating lifelong stressors and trauma, using evidence-based information to showcase how unhandled emotional stress can manifest physically. With insights into studies from Japan, Mayo Clinic, and Harvard, the episode underscores the need for proactive stress management.

Studies and Research Referenced:

  1. Japanese Research on Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy: First identified in Japan in 1990, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy derives its name from the Japanese term for an octopus trap, reflecting the heart's distinctive shape during an episode. The condition predominantly affects postmenopausal women and is typically precipitated by severe emotional or physical stressors.
     BJCardio
  2. Mayo Clinic's Diagnostic Criteria: The Mayo Clinic has established diagnostic criteria for Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, emphasizing transient left ventricular dysfunction, absence of obstructive coronary disease, new electrocardiographic abnormalities, and the exclusion of other causes like myocarditis. These guidelines assist clinicians in accurately identifying and managing the syndrome.
     Mayo Clinic Proceedings
  3. Harvard's Insights into the Brain-Heart Connection: Researchers at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital have investigated the role of the brain in Broken Heart Syndrome. Their studies indicate that heightened activity in the brain's stress centers, particularly the amygdala, may increase the risk of developing this condition. This underscores the importance of addressing chronic stress to maintain heart health.
     Harvard News

Key Takeaways:

  • Holistic Mind-Body Approach: Collaborations with experts like Dr. Jack Wolfson highlight the necessity of addressing both psychological and physiological aspects of health. Implementing holistic strategies can effectively mitigate the impact of stress and trauma on the heart.


  • Proactive Stress Management: Understanding and managing lifelong stressors are crucial in preventing conditions like Broken Heart Syndrome. Incorporating stress-reduction techniques, such as mindfulness, therapy, and lifestyle modifications, can significantly enhance cardiovascular health.

For more information contact Ryan at cm@naturalheartdoctor.com or find him on Instagram @ryanmarkkimball    






Disclaimer:

This podcast is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose, and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Innate Ability and Health podcast. Recently, I was inspired to reboot this podcast. Right now I'm working very closely with natural heart doctor Dr Jack Wolfson on creating a holistic mind-body program that actually addresses the underlying trauma and stress directly related to heart conditions and different cardiovascular events a person may have. So it's very exciting and it is very cutting edge. This type of root cause approach to what's going on with a person's health specifically heart health in this case and trauma and stress, is not something that's being done and it really should be. There's no reason it couldn't be and I'm so happy to be developing this and seeing the results and reaping the benefits, helping others reap the benefits from it. So, that said, let's dive into what I wanted to go over today. I really want to help people understand that emotions, trauma, stress are directly related to a person's state of health, specifically heart health. The heart does seem to be one of the most emotionally engaged organs. Whatever reason you might give for that. There is a lot of information behind that, but we're not going to dive into all of that today and spend the next three hours sorting that out. What we're going to get into is some more practical information and evidence-based information that you can look at.

Speaker 1:

So I wanted to talk a little bit today about broken heart syndrome, because this is something that a lot of people have heard of and have some maybe experience with, or at least know the concept of it. Even this saying that hurts my heart, you know. Seeing something traumatic or sad, you know, makes my heart hurt. These type of things. This is not just a cliche. It has actually been found and there were studies done on this over 30 years ago in Japan. They call it Takotsubo syndrome, broken heart syndrome, basically what it is. They noticed that individuals who had experienced intense trauma, stress, emotional situations in life tended to have at least some of them, the symptoms of a heart attack. And these symptoms were not just in their head, quote unquote they actually could be measured physically. The person had shortness of breath, they had their heartbeat going very rapidly, a weakness in the heart muscle activity All of these things that would show a person is actually having a heart attack were present, but the person had no prior history of heart disease or having heart attacks or anything. There was no physical reason why they should be experiencing those symptoms, which were completely evident. When tested, the only thing that was present was this traumatic emotional incident that they were experiencing, this traumatic stress or high stress situation in their life right, and from that the person was getting all these symptoms.

Speaker 1:

Now since then, since the 90s, there have been many studies to back this up. There was a study done at the Mayo Clinic that went over examining this phenomena as well and found the same results. There were many times when a person had these traumatic events in life heavy stress, et cetera and exhibit the symptoms of a heart attack right. And at Harvard they more recently did a study where they were looking at what are the areas of the brain that light up, so to speak, when a person is under stress and could these be used to predict broken heart syndrome where a person might exhibit the symptoms of a heart attack or weakened heart muscle due to stress and stressful events or trauma in life. And they found that to be true. They could actually predict with some accuracy that this was going to occur. So really evidence-based information here that we need to be in control of our stress and we need to have our trauma handled so it's not to the point where it affects us physically, because whether it's from trauma and stress or a lifetime of eating bad food or something else.

Speaker 1:

Having a heart attack is something we all want to avoid. We want to make sure that people around us that we care and love definitely never have to experience. So let's take a look at this. I want to make a little comparison here to something that most people in the natural heart and natural health world will understand. So you probably heard of this concept of a person just builds up toxins over a lifetime, and sometimes it's called the bucket theory, where we go through childhood and we don't eat organic and we're exposed to glyphosate, and maybe we live by a farm that sprays regularly or we use Roundup in our yard or whatever it is. We get lots of these toxins in our system. It just keeps building and building, and maybe we live in a building that has mold in it. At some point we get exposed to some mold and our toxic load just keeps building up as we age and at some point our bucket, so to speak, or our body basically gets full and that last little bit of toxicity enters our system and we get sick. Some people get severely sick or they develop an autoimmune disease or something else occurs right Trauma and stress, emotional loss these have the same exact phenomena and they really should be taken up separately.

Speaker 1:

Some people have experienced so much loss in their life that their bucket is just completely full and the next thing that they lose, the next relationship that goes wrong or thing in life that they can't have, breaks the camel's back, so to speak. It is the thing that sets them over the edge and causes the cascade of physical degeneration events that might occur, whether that's a heart attack or having hormonal imbalance, or not being able to sleep or cognitive decline, whatever that is and it applies for stress as well We've all gone through life. There are stressful things in childhood. Going to school is not always the greatest thing. Having to train and learn a job and make money this can sometimes be stressful. Marriage, love these things have stress in them as well as the joy that they bring Having kids, buying a house all of these things just build up that bucket full of stress and at some point in our lives earlier for some, later for others, and more dramatic or less dramatic depending on the person that stress overflows and you might get this broken heart syndrome occurring for someone.

Speaker 1:

So it's really important, yes, to learn how to mitigate stress in the present, but it's even more important perhaps, to empty out that bucket of stress from a lifetime of stressful events. And it doesn't just go away because we decide it goes away. It's saying I had toxic heavy metal poisoning from lead pipes that I drank for 20 years from, that were in our house or whatever, and I'm just going to decide that it no longer affects me. Good, I'm good to go right. Obviously, nobody would think that it's ludicrous, but for some reason the same isn't recognized of things like stress and trauma and loss. And it really should be, because there are specific, very simple techniques that you can use to quote unquote detox that stress, that trauma and maybe the losses that one has experienced. It's not to say that these things go away, but the negativity that they can have on a physical, emotional and mental level can be reduced and eliminated if done correctly. Hopefully that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to make sure that people understood this, because it is really important and there's a misunderstanding about it that it's not handleable or it's something I just have to live with, or the only way to handle stress is to avoid it, and that's another thing I'd like to make sure we bring up today is that avoiding stress is not a valid approach. While, yes, maybe don't go and do something that you know is going to set you over the edge that's common sense but the real answer to stress is learning what is the source of it and then communicating and figuring out ways to handle and address it. Now that may sound like too simple, or I know the source of my stress it's my bank account. It's always empty or whatever it is right. But really there's more to it than that. There are underlying steps that could be taken to put you at a point where you're just slightly gently able to handle and control that, and then that snowballs into the point where you're really able to handle it at some point and it's no longer even an issue.

Speaker 1:

So I think that's really important and for you to understand that when you're not stressed, that doesn't mean that all your past stress is now gone and you don't have to worry about it, just sitting there waiting for the next thing to possibly set it off Not to put anybody in a state of fear or apprehension, but there's also the state of confronting where things really are at and confronting what you need to know and understand in order to make changes. This is important. It's not as simple as I decided. I no longer feel bad about the loss of my pet or the loss of a loved one family member. I put that behind me of a loved one family member. I put that behind me, right. Are you able to put behind you toxic mold toxicity that is now eating away at your organs and causing you to be in a state of such pain that you can't even function in life? No, it doesn't work that way.

Speaker 1:

Well, trauma, it doesn't work that way either, and I don't want to put anybody in a point where they feel like they can't do something about it, because there are very simple solutions to do that Just changing your viewpoint in present time, that you're not going to just avoid and figure out ways not to be stressed, but instead you're going to attack things head on and really understand what's going on around you and communicate until things resolve. That's the right approach. Right and when a what's going on around you and communicate until things resolve. That's the right approach. Right. And when a person's really stressed, there's a source of it, there's someone in their environment that is creating that stress, or there's something that isn't resolving due to different factors that are posed against each other and therefore not resolving. And when those things are located it is a little magical the stress will just dissolve and often situations just sort out and calm down to a very great degree, if not completely. So I wanted to make sure that no one was thinking that I'm saying stress isn't handleable or stress isn't something you can do something about, because it definitely is same thing with trauma, same thing with loss, but they have to be handled right.

Speaker 1:

The heart is a very emotional organ. It's been known for thousands and thousands of years in Chinese medicine, apparently, that you store emotions in different parts of the body. And now Western medicine, the Western world, is just starting to catch up with this concept apparently and we really need to get on board and actually handle the trauma and use the scientific approach that we have in the Western world that's very effective on so many levels to really figure this out, and we have figured it out here at Natural Heart Doctor and I definitely can help you Think of it this way you have a symptom in present time A person's got AFib that can be traced back to a very specific instance of trauma or several different instances of trauma that are maybe connected or associated somehow. That, when resolved, will eliminate the traumatic aspect that is contributing to AFib in the current moment. Same thing could be said of stress.

Speaker 1:

Regarding AFib, if a person knows they get stressed, it kicks in that symptom and connection can be traced back and it's not a current thing, it's something from the past that has built up in the bucket, so to speak, and now you're being affected by it in the present moment. Same thing for loss. I see so many people who come in and have cardiovascular issues or risk having loss that's unhandled in their past and often I put that behind me or I came to terms with it or that's not exactly how it works. I appreciate people trying to get on with life and cope and make the best of things, but we can do better and you need to do better to have optimal health period. All of these things can be resolved and you can trace back what's going on physically in the present moment to the trauma, loss and stress in the past and resolve it simply and effectively.

Speaker 1:

But you have to be willing to look at it and understand how this works, which is a little beyond just a short podcast episode, but I will do more of these and do some presentations as well, so that you can have more of an understanding about how this works. So thank you for listening. I really appreciate people who are willing to look at these areas and handle them and get the results that are there to be had. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. You can email me, cm at naturalheartdoctorcom. You can find me on Instagram, ryan Mark Kimball. I work with a lot of people as a holistic mind body practitioner and help them resolve these things very well. Thank you, have a great rest of your day. I'll see you in the next episode.

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