One chilly winter day, 76-year-old Bill, a retired engineer, slipped on ice outside the grocery store, falling and breaking his hip. Sadly, he passed away three days later. His wife of 35 years, Margaret, who was 60, was heartbroken. Overwhelmed by grief, she grew more and more withdrawn and fell into a deep depression. Not long after, Margaret passed away in the hospital from what her doctor described as Broken Heart Syndrome. 

Broken heart syndrome, also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, was first recognized in Japan in 1990. It often happens after intense emotional or physical stress—like getting sick suddenly, losing someone special, surviving a major accident, or experiencing a disaster like an earthquake. The symptoms are pretty serious and can feel just like a heart attack: extreme chest pain, breaking out in cold sweats, feeling dizzy, being very tired, and having trouble breathing.

Studies show that up to 5% of women who are thought to be having a heart attack are actually dealing with this condition.

It mostly affects women who are past menopause. Those with anxiety or depression are also more likely to experience it. Fortunately, most people with broken heart syndrome recover quickly without long-term problems. However, it can happen again, and in rare cases, it can be deadly.

It seems like more people are being diagnosed with broken heart syndrome, or TTC. This might be because doctors are getting better at spotting it or because of stress from things like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctors think that broken heart syndrome happens when a big rush of stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisone, shocks the heart. This can mess up how the heart muscle cells or the blood vessels in the heart work, making it hard for the left part of the heart to pump properly.

Personally, I’m not convinced that just a burst of stress hormones can fully explain broken heart syndrome. 

When you hear phrases like “He died of a broken heart,” “Follow your heart,” “She had a change of heart,” or “His heart wasn’t in it,” it’s clear that we think of the heart as more than just a blood pump. We see it as the center of our emotions (aching heart, change of heart), our thoughts and reasoning (his heart is in the right place), and even our personality (bleeding heart, faint heart).

No one ever says, “Follow your liver” or “Absence makes the kidneys grow fonder.” You’d only hear a comedian joke, “The pancreas has its reasons, which reason knows nothing about”—a playful twist on Pascal’s well-known line, “The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.” Also, you won’t find a doctor declaring that someone died of a broken brain. These sayings and metaphors have deep roots in old wisdom and turn out to be more aligned with recent heart science than we used to think.

Interestingly, in Japan, more men than women are affected by takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Clearly, psycho-social factors and the brain-heart connection are key players in developing this condition. For instance, researchers in Japan looked at how blood flowed in the brains of patients with this syndrome, both right after it happened and later on. They found that during the acute phase, blood flow significantly increased in areas like the hippocampus, brain stem, and basal ganglia, but decreased in the prefrontal cortex. These changes went back to normal once the patients fully recovered.

New studies by J. A. Armour from Hôpital du Sacré Coeur de Montréal have discovered that the human heart has its own nervous system, capable of both short and long-term memory. This heart’s nervous system is made up of about 40,000 neurons known as sensory neurites that send signals to the brain.

Further support for these findings comes from research conducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Texas. These studies showed that once the heart’s rhythm is changed by a certain trigger, the effect lasts even after the trigger is gone. If the same trigger happens again later, the heart’s response is stronger than before. This suggests that the heart can remember and adapt much like the nervous system does.

These studies and others like them confirm a deep link between the heart and the brain. Both play key roles in storing memories and emotions, acting together in a feedback system that shapes much of our mental processes.

I believe we can gain a lot by seeing the heart as the core of our personality and our emotional ties to ourselves and others. It acts like a compass, guiding us through life, molding our inner world, and leading us toward spiritual growth and change. By handling the tough realities of our feelings day by day, we might find it easier to embrace big changes when they arrive.