Broken Heart Syndrome: How Heartbreak (and Loneliness, Depression and Anxiety) Affects Your Health

“Broken heart syndrome is the dilation and stunning of the heart, appearing as a heart-attack, solely by the surge of stress hormones in the body. It occurs due to stressful situations, and the heart looks as though it has suffered a heart attack. The condition often resolves but in the initial stages of development, could be dangerous. The mechanism is stress, and the key to prevention is diminishing stress. TM could help to prevent the excessive release of stress hormones that lead to this frightening condition.”

– Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum Cardiologist, Leader in Women’s Heart Health, a New York Times Super Doctor, and a Castle and Connelly Top Doctor for Cardiovascular Disease

Most common in women over 50 years of age, broken heart syndrome was first identified in Japan and is medically called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and also stress cardiomyopathy. Patients are often temporarily prescribed medications such as beta-blockers and usually recover completely. The occurrence is frightening enough the first time so it’s fortunate that the risk of recurrence is low.

Causes: Your Emotions and Heart Health

Traditional Eastern health systems noted the connection between emotions and health, and Western medicine is now beginning to understand and objectively verify those observations. University of Louisville cardiologist Lorrel Brown, M.D., says there is definitely a correlation between cardiac problems and an extreme event or period of loneliness, depression and anxiety.

Dr. Brown says that broken heart syndrome is the clearest and most dramatic example of the effect of emotions on heart health. And reports that “there’s ongoing research now into the question, ‘Is there some way to intervene?’” 

 Dr. Grant Reed, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, says that stressful events seem to “overwork” the heart: “The best understanding we have is that the heart reacts very strongly to an adrenaline surge. That adrenaline surge causes the heart muscle to weaken.

Colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic documented more than a four-fold increase in broken heart syndrome during the stressful 2020 Covid lockdown period, illustrating the profound connection between emotions and physical health. “Emotional stress can lead to a physical consequence,” observed Dr. Reed.

Prevention: A Way to Intervene

Since broken heart syndrome is said to be on the rise, it’s wise to be alert for symptoms. However, as the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” I’d say that prevention is worth way more than just a pound of cure—because it’s better not to need any cure at all. In life, and in relationships, it’s so common to experience disappointment, change, loss and even grief that they seem unavoidable. So, learning how to avoid or decrease depression, anxiety, and stress is key to averting broken heart syndrome. Repeated scientific studies have shown that the Transcendental Meditation technique, an effortless procedure done sitting comfortably twice daily, helps to reduce and avert these emotions and their health consequences. The TM practice is an effective means of preventing physical damage to the heart.

Stress:

Women who practiced the TM technique show significantly increased skin resistance during the practice, an electrophysiological measure of calmness or restfulness. 

Peer-reviewed published studies on the TM technique have shown remarkable benefits for women, including reduction of stress, increased resistance to stress, and faster recovery from stress. “No other ‘stress management technique’ has anywhere close to this amount of hard data in support of its claims to reduce stress.” – Norman Rosenthal, M.D., Georgetown Medical School; previously senior researcher at NIMH

In one random control study with 30 women participants, the stress hormone cortisol was three times lower in those practicing the Tm technique. This study shows that the practitioners of the TM program were more resistant to factors that cause stress. (Read paper in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)

Read article: Why Doctors Need to Talk to Women About Stress

Depression:

Women are diagnosed with depression about twice as often as men. About a fifth of American women are on antidepressants and, for women, depression ranks among the top ten cardiovascular disease risks. Women succumb to depression more readily from lower levels of stress, so reducing stress is already a key factor in averting depression.

Much research has examined how the TM technique reduces depression. A study (Transcendental Meditation, Reduced Symptoms of Depression Randomized Controlled Mind-Body Intervention Trials) led by researchers at University of California Los Angeles shows that depressive symptoms decreased by almost 50% over a 12-month period among people practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique, compared to controls. 

Research published in the Journal of Counseling and Development in 1985 found that patients suffering from post-traumatic stress problems who learned the Transcendental Meditation technique showed significant reduction in depression after four months, in contrast to others who were randomly assigned to receive psychotherapy.

Also, depression is associated with low levels of serotonin, and studies show that TM practice increases serotonin in subjects whose serotonin is too low.

Read article: A Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner on Anxiety, Depression, Hormones, and Medication

Anxiety:

During TM the whole physiology automatically shifts into a more balanced, harmonious style of functioning that is the opposite of the stress response. Biochemicals in the bloodstream associated with tension and anxiety—such as cortisol and plasma lactate—are significantly reduced.

An early study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology showed that the TM technique is far more effective in reducing trait anxiety than techniques involving concentration or contemplation. A meta-analysis published in 2014 in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine showed that people with high anxiety that TM was more than twice as effective in decreasing anxiety than relaxation, progressive relaxation, and other meditations.

“The Transcendental Meditation technique helps promote mental and emotional well-being. It has especially helped my patients with depression, anxiety, and insomnia.”

– Veronica Butler, M.D., Author of A Woman’s Best Medicine

Read article: Anxiety, Genetics, and You

Conclusion

Dozens of published studies including research supported by National Institutes of Health funding, show the TM technique to be highly effective in reducing risk factors and supporting cardiovascular health. Effective, evidence-based, easy to learn, and effortless to practice, the Transcendental Meditation program offers women the power to prevent and counter broken heart syndrome.

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