I have an early memory, from when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. It was early afternoon one weekend, and my dad and I were taking a nap on our living room couch. I could hear his heartbeat through his chest, and it was slow and steady, but very strong. And I remember feeling comforted.
Recently, my daughter came to visit me at my office. She knows her way around the place pretty well. One of her favorite things to do is to grab my stethoscope and listen to her heart. It’s something I taught her to do a few months ago, and she loves it. But when she put the scope up to my chest, I wondered what she would hear. So, I quickly checked my pulse, hoping to feel a beat slow and steady, but I was disappointed.
Of course she wouldn’t think anything of it now, but that’s because she is still figuring it all out. I cannot guarantee she won’t one day equate love to the anxious and unsteady energy of another man. I think if I fail to change this in myself, then she most likely will.
Luckily, I went to school for a couple of decades, so I learned a few things. Now I know that it takes change in the body and the mind to affect the body or the mind. There is a clear connection between emotional health and cardiovascular health. When we are afraid, anxious, excited, angry, or surprised, the rate of our heartbeat increases. The same thing will happen when we are overjoyed or in love. However, only those negativeemotions will linger, and keep an elevated pulse over time.
When there’s enough negative emotion, two things are certain to occur; high blood pressure, and (eventually) cardiovascular disease. And it’s all coming from the way we feel.
I think it’s very easy to overlook the impact of our emotions, but when it comes down to it, that’s all we really are. Every thought and behavior is driven by pure emotion. Higher energy emotions, like love and peace, are sure to bring a wonderful experience to everyone. The lowest emotions, like shame and guilt, invite suffering and scarcity. And when we choose not to feel at all, we are hardly even alive.
Giving up negative emotion is easier said than done. But doing so would release the clutch on your heart, allowing your entire body to relax, and even lengthen your existence. Luckily, there’s a way to make it easier for the body to release emotional tension on the heart. You can actually “trick” the tension away. This method is very reliable, but sometimes it is contingent that you will one day release the trapped emotion permanently from your thoughts. The method is exercise.
If we cannot expel an emotion through thought, the next best thing is to work it off. How many times have we heard someone out of frustration (or anger) say they need to “walk it off”? Why does a teenager punch a pillow in the same way a toddler might stomp in a fit? Or worse yet, why does a repressed man one day blow up and attack his own family? Could it be that some emotions have energy that we have not evolved past expressing physically? It’s possible that for some, we’re not meant to evolve from, but revere more greatly, like the connection between love and sex.
And so, when we cannot understand or eliminate a chronic negative emotion, we must work it off. A rapid heart rate will often get better with exercise. Cardiovascular, strength training, crossfit, biking, tennis, even walking can change the physical response over time. Exercise will decrease a resting heart rate and shift the entire body into a state of calm being.
The ancient Chinese believed the heart was the center of all emotion. It is also the workhorse of our body. I believe this connection is the ultimate biohack.
These are things I’ve come to understand over time, but like anyone who gets trapped in the illusion of selflessness, it was something I had neglected. It took a child reminder to help me realize my mistake. Exercise is more than a weight loss tool or muscle growth. It is a regulator for your emotional state. And emotional state is something a child will carry with them forever.
-Dr Adrian Gutierrez
