Do you feel good?  Are you happy?

Most of us go through spells where we feel up and then other times when we feel down.  Its a natural phenomenon, but did you know that how you feel can affect your physical heart health?

It’s true most of us tend to think that how we feel is just a feeling- that it doesn’t affect us really.  Yet, this isn’t true.  It is well known medically that negative emotions can alter the body’s biochemistry and create illness.  Now we know that being happy can do just the opposite.

Researchers from England published a study in the European Heart Journal (Davidson, K.W. European Heart Journal, published online Feb.18, 2010.). After accounting for known heart disease risk factors, the researchers found that the happiest people were 22% less likely to develop heart disease over the 10 years of follow-up than people who fell in the middle of the negative-positive emotion scale.

People with the most negative emotions had the highest risk for heart disease and people who scored highest for happiness had the lowest risk.  (http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20100217/study-happiness-good-heart)

So the idea of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”  may be more than just mere mouthing of words.

You are what you eat, but you may also be what you think.

So consider changing your attitude.  One thing I promote is the Sufi technique of Practicing Remembrance.  This is an ancient method that has helped hundreds of thousands of people.  It’s available on my website bookstore.

Another way to change our mood and thoughts is through guided meditations.  In my book, “A Broken Heart Can Kill You,”  I offer guided meditations for improving your mental outlook.

We are what we eat.  We also are what we think.

“Code Blue Emergency Room!  Code Blue Emergency Room!”

I was seeing another patient in the ER the other day when this blared out of the the speakers.

Running into the next room, a woman’s heart had suddenly stopped.    She had what we call

Sinus Arrest. All electrical activity from her heart’s pacemaker had stopped.  The EKG strip showed a flat line.  No pumping action of the heart was occurring.  She woman began seizing, CPR was begun.  Quickly, she her heart began working again.  I stopped what I was doing and the ER physician asked me to see her.

After interviewing her, checking her laboratory, and xrays, it was clear she was going to need a temporary pacemaker and perhaps a permanant pacemaker.  This is a device that beats electrically for the heart.  We placed an external pacemaker on the woman and waited for the surgeon who would do the temporary pacemaker.

I returned to my other consultation.

Fifteen minutes later, the surgeon was just walking in the door, but he could place the temporary pacemaker the woman’s heart stopped again. Her heart stopped for 30 seconds.  It was quite scary, looking at the complete flat line on the EKG.  Once again CPR was begun and the surgeon quickly put in the temporary pacemaker.

The woman was admitted to the hospital as we tried to determine the cause of her Sinus Arrest.

I saw her the next morning in the ICU.  She was sitting up in bed, looked well.  The  “beep, beep” of the temporary pacemaker signal on the monitor was reassuring.  Her daughter and son were present.

“Glad to have you here,”  I said to her.  “When your heart stopped in the ER it wasn’t clear you’d be with us today.”

“Yes,”  she said, “I here I gave you people quite a scare.”

Because I had always been interested in people who had “come back from the dead”  like her, I asked her what the experience was like.  “Did you see yourself going down a bright tunnel?”

“No, I didn’t see that,”  she said, “But I saw my husband (he’d passed six years earlier).  And I saw my best friend Jean who had died a few months  ago.  She told me it wasn’t my time, and that I needed to come back. It was the most comforting feeling I’ve ever had- to know things are going to be OK over there.”

Some physicians think such near death experiences are just memories, odd dreams, or discharges of brain electrical activity.  Although my personal beliefs make me tend to feel they are real events, what they are  doesn’t really matter to me.

I do know that they provide a real feeling of comfort to the hearts of those people who have the experience.

Our hearts need comfort.  They need reassurance.  I asked this woman if I could share her experience on this blog.  She said, “Yes, if it brings them to a greater peace and love.”  I said, “I am sure that it will give them a sense of greater love.”

I know this is vital, because I truly believe, “Love is the Medicine that Heals.”

I welcome your comments.

Dr. Kirk Laman

A flat

Yes, there is a financial crisis still brewing.  Portugal, Greece, and Europe are having severe credit issues.

Here in the States, unemployment is down but real job growth hasn’t surfaced.  More than 10% of Americans remain out of work.  We are still in a crisis.

Whenever external events become dismal- Our hearts can suffer.  I don’t mean just emotionally.  I mean they can suffer physically.  Real heart problems- chest pain, heart attacks, the broken heart syndrome:  can all raise their ugly heads.

You can have a real crisis of the heart.  Its a crisis that can be life ending.

Not long ago I saw a woman in her mid forties who had been in the hospital with a heart attack.  I’ve been watching, talking, probing patients for some time to see if most people with a heart attack have some severe emotional trauma prior to going in the hospital.  I’ve asked patient after patient this question.

So far it been 99% of my unofficial study.  An emotional crisis can ignite a physical crisis. 

I’d be interested in hearing from other patients.  When you had your heart attack were you also recently under attack emotionally?

Why is it so hard to be consistent?  Why is it so hard to do the things you know you need to do.

You know what I mean.  Over the past 2 years I had lost about 40 pounds.  Then gained some back.I know the trouble.  I can control what I eat 4-6 days a week, but on 1-2 days I eat things I shouldn’t.

My guilt maker is sweets.  I don’t go completely overboard, just not enough consistency to keep the weight where I want it.

Consistency it seems is the key to many things.  Building a business…health…keepin fit.  The movie, Julia Julia really made me think about this.  How did that woman write a blog everyday.

Why is it sooo difficult to remain consistent?

My answer, I’d love to hear yours… is Self-Gratification.  It seems that many of our bad choices are coping mechanisms.  I reach for sweets on the day’s I’m over stressed.  I choose not to exercise on the same days. Some day’s I don’t have an overwhelming reason not to eat… except wanting to be healthier.

Having 10 extra pounds around isn’t much of an issue for me.  I don’t have heart disease, joint disease and I exercise regularly and feel good.  But for people who have serious problems:  diabetes, heart disease, obesity… I would think they would have the motivation to curb this backsliding.

Yet, it seems even harder for people who have these problems.  (Obviously, this is why they have them)

I think we all have to find an overwhelming motivating reason to stop a bad habit and be consistent.  And then daily, hourly, minute by minute remind ourselves why we want to do a thing.

What do you think?

“Can’t I just take a pill to get my cholesterol down?”

A middle aged man said this to me recently in the office.  He has cravings for double chocolate ice cream sundies 3-4 times a week.  He has known heart disease with a previous stent placed in one of his coronary arteries.  His bad cholesterol, LDL, was elevated and his belly was quite large.

Normally as cardiologists we try to reduce the LDL cholesterol to well below 100mg/dl.  Ideal is somewhere between 50-70.  Studies show that people in cultures that have very little or no heart disease, the LDL cholesterol is exceedingly low.  Just as it is in all newborns.   It can be as low as 35-50mg/dl.

Eating saturated fat from animal products has been show to be a key reason that people have high LDL cholesterol levels.  Many other things play a part in getting heart disease but improper eating is very crucial.  A large belly has been shown to cause elevated insulin levels that can help lead to heart disease.

So what can we say to someone who:

1.  Has had a heart attack

2. Has a high LDL

3.  Is already on medications

4.  Wants to take a pill rather than giving up his ice cream.

You know the analogy I like to use relates to a car.  I often say, “If you have a car that runs on regular gasoline and you’ve been putting kerosine in it and of course its not working the way it should.   What do you think is going to eventually happen to your car?

Of course, no one would do this with a car.  Everyone understands that an automobile has to have the proper oil, care, and fuel to make it run properly.  So why don’t people understand this about their bodies?

Heart disease is 90% preventable- 90% of all CAD, Coronary Artery Disease, can be prevented with proper diet, exercise, and relaxation techniques.

A health care crisis is upon us.  Yet, very few people are interested in taking the steps needed to prevent illness.  Andrew Weil, M.D. a guru of integrative medicine suggests that we need to really examine the medical system to get away from a disease management system and really embrace prevention (http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=29055)

I would agree.  Consider the costs of just knee replacement therapy.  Each year over 50 billion of dollars are spent on orthopedic surgeries related to Osteoarthritis, frequently caused by obesity (http://www.ajmc.com/supplement/endocrinology/2009/A235_09sep_Osteoarthritis/A235_09sep_Bitton_S230toS235). Knee replacement surgery is a big part of this cost.

Obesity is preventable.  Yet, it means that people have to take responsibility for their health care.

Last year, I highly recommended a yoga class to 50 of my patients who suffered from obesity.  I spent nearly 10 minutes talking to each and every patient.  I gave them literature and a phone number to call.

Did you know that not 1 patient even called the phone number?

Sad but true.

The number of people who were willing to spend $15 on a relaxation CD was none.  Yet, I would venture that most of those people were willing to spend $15 eating out.

Perhaps we can create a pill that will make people want to exercise.  This would be a good prescription to write.

I would then have a pill that could lead to prevention.

Not long ago I had a young patient that I saw in the Emergency Room with a heart attack. He was a heavy man in his early forties. He worked full time at Walmart but had no health care insurance. He said he was trying to raise 4 kids and just couldn’t afford the premiums. He waited 3 hours to come to the hospital because he was worried about his inusrance.

The man had risk factors for heart disease. He smoked, was obese, and suffered with diabetes. His exercise level was poor. His father had died in his 50’s with heart disease.

Severe chest pain had struck him on his day off. His EKG showed a large heart attack of what we used to call the “widow maker” artery- the left anterior descending. At the hospital I was working at that day we don’t have the ability to do a heart catheterization and open the artery. He was given the appropriate therapy and immediately sent to a hospital 30 minutes to our south.

I remember checking my watch and smiled because from the time he entered the Emergency Room till the time he was placed in the ambulance to go to the other hospital, it was only 25 minutes.

My smile disappeared when I found out that he had a cardiac arrest in the ambulance and didn’t make it to the other hospital. His heart disease had killed him.

We had done our part correctly, but I wondered if he’d had health care insurance would he have come in sooner? Would his outcome have been different?

Yet, I wondered about his own responsibility. Why did he allow himself to be 100 pounds overweight? Why did he smoke when he knew his father had passed away with heart disease?

Are you taking responsibility for your heart health?

You should. It can make a difference.

The past is gone, like a soap bubble burst. And the future? Its a mysterious dream, not yet real. All we really have is the present, this touchable moment.

We’ve all heard the phrase: live in the present. And while this is important, we also have to consider how are we living in the present? Are we just existing in the moment? Are we reliving the past while in the present? Or is our mind three steps forward concerned with the future?

Recently, I was at a Peak Potentials (www.peakpotentials.com) training seminar called, Masters of Influence. One of the speakers, Greg Mooers, a monk for 10 years, introduced an amazing affirmation. It’s designed to expand our ability to live in the present moment, and even to enjoy it.

Every morning after waking up and getting out of bed, he suggests that we thrust our arms above our head looking up to the heavens and say, “I love my life” three times.

Now this might seem hokey. It might make you wonder if your brain is beginning to congeal like some out-of-date cake mix- but after trying if for a few day’s it’s actually made me feel better.

It’s made me look hard at how I approach life. So often we go through life not enjoying the present. We don’t accept our life just the way it exists. We want it to be different somehow. We want it to be more of this or less of that.

Saying, “I love my life” doesn’t mean we stop trying to improve our lives. We aren’t giving up and accepting mediocrity. It just means that our life is the way it is in this moment, and if we want to be happy we have to enjoy this moment.

If we can learn to accept life as it presents to us, if we can love our life just as it is- then we can rise above the small moments and revel in the wondrous and simple beauty of living.

To find out more about Greg Mooers and his message go to: www.lifecamp.com

November 20th, 2007

What is real health. If a person can exercise to a high level, does this mean their heart is healthy? Do any other factors play a role in true heart health?

Some people think age plays a role in health. If a person is young then they must be healthy? Right?

In my book, age is very relative. As a physician it becomes quite clear that our chronological age is one thing, while the true age of your body is something else.

Last week, I saw a patient in the office who was forty-two years old. Yet, when you looked at him he appeared to be much older, at least 60 or even 65. He was overweight, with diabetes, and had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for nearly 30 years. His face was old-looking, with deep crevices from the effects of smoking. And when he walked on the treadmill for a stress test, he could hardly walk. Many 70 year-olds go farther than he went.

Even though the man’s chronological age was 42, his physiological age was much older. Age in his case didn’t make him healthy. His heart wasn’t healthy. After flunking the stress test we did a heart catheterization on him and found out he had major blockages of his coronary arteries.

Clearly his chronological age wasn’t his real age.

This has been my experience. Our chronological age doesn’t always match our inner age.

You can also be young in years, but old in thinking or acting.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard patients say, “Oh, I’m too old to start exercising.” “I’m too old to take up yoga.” Yet, their body is telling them that they need such activities. Their physical health demands that they do these things.

Old thinking is a hard illness to overcome.

A person can also be old in their heart’s emotional state. What do I mean by this? I mean that sometimes peoples hearts have been traumatized and they are afraid to allow new emotions come into their heart. Perhaps they have had their heart broken in a relationship and they refuse to let someone back into their life. If they don’t open the heart ages. It becomes old and weathered.

Love is essential for being young. If we give up on love our heart can becomes old.
It can lose the essential oil that gives it life. When this happens our physical health can also be affected.

Haven’t you noticed that if two people are deeply in love and one of them dies, the other person often dies soon thereafter? It is true. It’s even been confirmed medically. Severe sadness, emotional trauma can actually kill a person.

So what can be done about keeping our heart from aging?

First we should strive to keep our heart physically healthy. We should exercise, eat properly, and avoid harmful activities like smoking, and excessive drinking.

Next, we need to keep our thinking young. Break down any barriers you have in your thinking. Take up new activities. Go sky diving, or scuba diving. Do things you’ve always thought you might like to do but were afraid.

Finally, allow love to enter your heart. If you’ve been hurt in the past, seek help. Find ways to get more love. Volunteer at a homeless shelter. Go and help with shut ins. Do things that make you give love and get more love. If you do you won’t be disappointed.

Your heart doesn’t have to become old.

Age is more what we do than the actual years we have lived.

October 26th, 2008

Human beings worry. They fret over the changes and happenings of life, Money woes, illness, separation and divorce- our hearts struggle with these difficulties.

When hearts struggle they can become sick. It is a well known medical fact that stress produces heart disease. Notice I said produces. As doctors we no longer think or suspect that emotional difficulty is damaging to the body, we know it with certainty.

Sadness, grief, loneliness, anger, fear, anxiety, depression- any condition that stresses our heart can create illness.
People get heart attacks and they even die from such difficulty.

If you’re worried about the recent banking bailout and its effects on the world you need to be careful. I know of people who have allowed these things to consume their minds. They have trouble sleeping. They’ve lost weight and come to the emergency room because of anxiety. All they can think of is that what is happening is bad.

Yet, sometimes what we think of as bad is really a good thing.

Look at rain. Recently, a Moroccan woman had sent me an email. She related that one day the sky was gray in Rabat, the Capital of Morocco. Rain was pouring down. People had scurried indoors, shuttered their doors as if the rain were something bad. People were feeling depressed and sad.

All of us like the sun. We like the warmth, the open feeling that it gives to our heart and mind. We don’t like cloudy, rainy days. But rain is important. Rain cleanses the earth. Rain gives life to crops. It is a nourishment.

Our hearts have a rain. It’s called love. The good feelings, kind words, and happy thoughts; All of these positive actions nourish our hearts. They make us feel good and give us hope.

Science has proven that positive actions and thoughts are real. The have a beneficial effect on the body. They can reduce the chances of a cold. They can also reduce the biochemical and hormonal factors that influence our body’s health.

If you have emotional, psychological, or even physical problems make the decision to embrace all of life. Look at your situation with a different eye. Perhaps there is a silver lining in the clouds that seem to threaten your life. Perhaps, what seems difficult is really a nourishing rain.

Sure, puddles may be forming in you life, but maybe it isn’t all bad. Is there some way for you to look with a deeper eye? Is there a way for you to see a benefit in what troubles your life.

Hassna from Morocco has helped me to see things differently.

Her reflections on the rain have given me hope, hope that goodness can be found within difficulty.

Is it raining in your life?

Perhaps its time to look anew.

October 13th, 2008

Life is interesting. It is like clouds. It moves this way and that. But you can’t keep your finger on it. You can’t control it.

Just the moment you think you’ve got it where you want it and then it shifts. The cumulus clouds come piling in, their lower edges tinted, with dark colors, ready to drop rain.

I’m sitting on the balcony of a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. I’m on vacation by myself. The sun is shining and the clouds are drifting. I’ve been away from this blog for quite some time. A crisis has overtaken my life.

Over the last few months events have left me wondering if I know up from down. Everything I thought I knew about my life is quaking. Oddly, the current banking crisis has appeared almost like a metaphor for my own events. This is quite an admission, I think for some one who prides themselves on being certain of life.

I used to be certain, or thought I was about where my life was headed.

Now I don’t know.

I don’t know if the course I’m on will lead me anywhere. I don’t know if I’ll be happier or if life will push by me like these rumbling clouds.

What I do know is that my heart has a deep yearning. It is yearning to be loved, to be filled with love, to know love- more strongly than ever. It is a an overwhelming current, like a rope twisted taut around my heart. It is tugging, tugging, pulling at my insides. It longs to be uncoiled.

I have no idea were this current is leading me.

So I don’t know where it will end. And just like I don’t know what these big, fluffy clouds are going to do today ( are they going to dissipate and leave us with glorious sunshine, or are they going to barrage us with showers- I have to accept it. I have to accept and if I can trust that things will work out.

So i am following my heart. I have to. Only my heart can lead me in the direction I need to go.

The recent financial crisis is a good example of the need to trust our hearts. If we allow ourselves to drop into fear, then nothing good will come of it.

We have to hold onto the idea that something larger than ourselves is in control. Call it the Universe, God, or the One. What we call it doesn’t matter. Some force has set the planets in their course. Some intelligence knows where this will all end. We have to hold onto this or we’ll lose hope.

Yes, the bailout might work. Or who knows maybe it wont. But we don’t have to worry.

Go outside and look at the clouds. Listen to the wind. Peer deeply up at the stars.
Go within and listen intensely to your own heart. The wind, stars, and clouds were here long, long before we were here. They will still be here after we are long gone.

The only certainty is change.

Life is interesting.

October 4th, 2008