Power of the Heart: Positive Emotions Prolong Health

"Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease."–Hippocrates

As far back as the middle of the last century, it was recognized that the heart "overtaxed by constant emotional influences or excessive physical effort and thus deprived of its appropriate rest" suffers disorders of function and becomes vulnerable to disease (Hilton, 1863). An early editorial on the relationships between mind and heart accepted the proposition that in about half of patients, heart failure was precipitated by gross emotional upsets. Current research suggests that the progression of a number of diseases is influenced by the consequences of carrying effort beyond physiological tolerance into a condition of depletion and exhaustion that leads to dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system.