NEW STUDY: THE STRESS OF ANGER AND AGGRAVATION CAN LEAD TO HEART ARRHYTHMIA

It’s just as important for your physical wellbeing as it is for your spiritual life to dedicate yourself to the kind of self-discovery that contributes to the serenity of the heart.

And you can do this as both prevention and antidote for the stress on the heart resulting from episodes of anger.

Doctors and other health professionals recommend meditation and biofeedback more and more as part of an integrated approach to healing the stress that can underlie heart problems.

Now there is new research showing why

A recently announced research study indicates that anger can cause arrhythmias, which occurs from a malfunction in the impulse that sends and electrical signal for your heart to beat. And disorders such as congestive heart problems or an increase in the risk of stroke can be caused by arrhythmia.

The findings of this study are reported in an article published by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Anger-Induced T-Wave Alternans Predicts Future Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators. Researchers from Yale University School of Medicine who conducted the study found, among other things, that anger recall led to electrical instability in the heart beat, and that those who tested with the highest instability were 10 times more likely to have an arrhythmia over the next three years.

The objective of the article states that the “study sought to determine whether T-wave alternans (TWA) induced by anger in a laboratory setting predicts future ventricular arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs).” You can read more about the study here.

STRESS RELIEF TIP

What you can do to guard your heart: proactively seek proven ways to prevent and recover from stressful episodes such as anger or aggravation

If, as the study shows, by recalling episodes of anger you can purposely induce the electrical instability in the heart beat, and that higher instability can lead to a future arrhythmia, it stands to reason that you can take proactive measures to reduce that risk.

Taking regular time out for meditation can help you to become more completely at ease. You can also educate your body to reduce and recover from stress with biofeedback. I recommend the StressEraser, a stress reducer that you can use for 15 minutes a day for noticeable results.

Biofeedback

One of various stress relief toys on the market, I like the StressEraser for its ease of use. You just place your finger on its pulse sensor, and synchronize your breathing to the screen’s Breathwave. Your mind feels calm and your body feels relaxed in minutes.

The StressEraser works by measuring the effects of your breathing on the parasympathetic system. It then guides you to use this information to reduce ergotropic tuning. Ergotropic tuning is a process that impacts your breathing; it takes place on a subconscious level to reprogram your nerves to respond too quickly and with greater urgency to prolonged periods of stress. By using biofeedback you retrain the nerves and reduce your stress levels. Meditation can have this same affect.

Using biofeedback tools or practicing meditation (and I suggest using a combination) are part of good prevention medicine. They feature prominently in stress relief programs designed to help you prevent the effects of stress. Prolonged stress can result in a multitude of disorders such as weakened immune system, emotional problems with depression and anxiety, and panic disorders, and now as shown by this study, arrhythmia.

Stress Relief Exercises

One of the best stress relieving exercises is meditation. I recommend that you take time daily for simple insight meditation.

To take a mini-meditation break now, begin with slow even breathing, and contemplate the ways you can do conduct this self inquiry. Begin by asking yourself what attitudes of thought and emotion resonate most with the serenity of your heart, mind and soul.

An easy way to do insight meditation to relieve stress is to ask yourself what you can do to give back to life rather than seeking to “get”. Getting is not the same as receiving; for it’s just as important for your spiritual and overall health to be open to receive your good as it is to give your good to others.

Giving in this sense is selfless and without motive. You then live from the space of that generosity. There’s a good reason for the expression, “the generous heart.”

Now resolve to be open to the changes that inevitably appear in your life, rather than seeking to hide from them, or to bolster yourself against, or numb yourself to change. Just gently and trustingly open yourself to Light now, with the next in-breath, to receive the good that comes from change.

You can also use this reflective or insightful practice to calmly choose to release whatever you find no longer serves your highest and best intents. Let it just flow out of the body with each exhale.

Use these meditative reflections, these moments taken apart from the busyness or intrusions of everyday life, and bring reprieve to your heart. Use this time to attune yourself to the direction you receive from your reverie.

Then, before you end your reflection, simply rededicate yourself to your fondest vision, or take a little more time and revision a new path. To do this nurtures your authentic heart, and helps you discover or rediscover how simply you can contribute, by this type of reflective breathing meditation, to more peaceful essences. These are the issues derived from the spiritual function of your heart. Your true and lasting reason for being.

You’ll find yourself, with daily practice that includes insight meditation and biofeedback, responding to the events in your life with new insight and clarity. And don’t worry about how much or little time you take at first, as long as you take the time consistently, daily. You can extend that time as you are able.

Fulfillment from this intent of making personal peace in the privacy of your own heart enhance your life, and help you make enlightened choices in activities that enhance your own life and the lives of those whose hearts your own heart touches.

Listen to the podcast version of this four-minute mini-meditation here.

Laughter – the best stress-buster on the planet!

And last, but not least, of my tips today for busting stress is the prescription for healthy laughter, the best of all medicines. And who but the original queen of slapstick comedy TV, our darling Lucy, can give you a quick hit of her special brand of hilarity.

I Love Lucy Vitameatavegamin