Does the heart have a memory function? How to enhance your memory?

The heart is the most important organ in the body of humans and vertebrates. Its main function is to provide pressure and move blood to all parts of the body. Does the heart have memory function? This article is my summary of whether the heart has memory. Function information is for reference only.

Does the heart have a memory function?

News replay

A man’s mood became cold after wearing a metal heart

Peter Ho, 68, Dayton is a man from Birmingham, England.

In 2000, he suffered a fatal heart attack and was given only two weeks to live. In order to save his life, on June 20, 2000, doctors at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, transplanted a titanium device into his heart.

This titanium device is called the Jarvik 2000 Heart. It is actually a titanium pump that can be used to help the patient's heart pump more blood. Doctors implanted this artificial "metal heart" into Peter's left ventricle to help the left ventricle pump more blood through his body. The "metal heart" is powered by an external battery pack, which is connected by a wire extending from Peter's chest to a rechargeable battery that hangs from Peter's waist.

Peter was the first experimental patient in the world to receive a Jarvik 2000 heart transplant.

The doctor’s original intention is just to let this “metal heart” serve as a bridge. This “artificial heart” can be used before heart disease patients wait for a suitable donor heart and undergo a heart transplant surgery. to maintain and extend life. However, what is unexpected is that Peter never waited for a suitable transplanted heart. Instead, he lived with this "metal heart" for 7 years, and thus became the longest surviving person in the world with this "metal heart". people. The man-made titanium pump not only saved Peter's life, but also allowed him to travel with his wife, and Peter even participated in a 91-mile charity walk.

However, Peter clearly felt that after installing this "metal heart", he was becoming more and more indifferent and gradually lost the ability to love. Although he wanted to maintain a close relationship with his sons and grandchildren, his emotions always failed to achieve this. He is now unable to express caring emotions to his relatives.

There have been many cases where a patient's personality changed after a heart transplant. Many scholars believe that this is because the heart has a memory function and a function of controlling emotions, causing the personality of the heart transplant recipient to become that of the organ donor. Can a heart change a person's personality? If a metal heart is installed, will people lose their emotions?

The person involved

? Machine heart? Make me lose the ability to love

Peter believes that it is the "machine heart" in his body that deprives him of the ability to express love.

?I became less and less emotionless and less able to show my emotions. In fact, soon after I had the metal heart installed during surgery, I realized that I felt very differently about things and that my values ??were never the same. ? said Peter.

Not only was Peter disinterested in his relatives, he even began to adopt an indifferent attitude towards money. Even when his multiple credit cards were seriously overdrawn, he was not at all as worried as before.

Supporters

The heart shares emotional functions with the brain

Some researchers believe that Peter's growing indifference may actually be related to his? Metal Heart? Relevant.

Researchers have discovered that the heart responds differently to different emotions. For example, when a person is angry or fearful, the heart rhythm will be very chaotic, and the graph on the electrocardiogram will be jagged and sharply bumpy; the chaotic heart rhythm will stimulate the part of the brain that controls excitement and stimulation.

However, when people feel love and express empathy, their heart rhythms are very gentle and the patterns on their EKG are very gentle, like rolling hills. This loving heart rhythm also stimulates a part of the brain that can make people very calm and relaxed.

Researchers believe that the reason why Peter became increasingly unable to express emotions may be because the "metal heart" in his chest affected the rhythm of his real heart, which indirectly affected his emotional expression. .

　◆Related theories

The heart transmits human emotions

Rowling McQuarty of the American Heart Institute has always insisted that the heart is not just It is a blood pump that we usually know as supplying blood to the human body. Like the brain, it transmits people's emotional signals, and the heart plays a very important role in our emotional experience.

Her research suggests that when our mood changes, the brain sends signals to the heart, which manifests itself in very complex forms, and we know that the heart sends more information back To the brain.

For example, when we are angry, angry, or anxious, the beating frequency of the heart will increase. This frequency will send signals back to the central nervous system of the brain, and the brain will identify whether this is a negative beating or a beating caused by stress. The actual feeling we experience is that our heart beats faster and it makes us think more clearly.

Opposition

Death stress is the cause of personality changes

However, Dr. Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik 2000 Heart But he flatly denied this statement.

Dr. Jarvik said that Peter was not unable to express his feelings. He filmed a documentary about Peter. In this documentary, after undergoing heart surgery, Peter expressed his sincere gratitude to the doctors for prolonging his life.

Even Peter's own cardiologist believes that the reason why Peter has become more and more indifferent is not because he has a "metal heart" in his chest, but because he is always facing the pressure of death. It may have changed his habits.

　◆Related theories

There is no change in the personality of heart transplant recipients

Chinese scholars also have judgments about the memory function of the heart.

This newspaper once reported that American scientists believe that the heart has thinking and memory functions. Zeng Wen, chief physician of cardiac surgery at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, said that from 2005 to 2006, Anzhen Hospital had performed 30 heart transplants. Surgery, but judging from the reports of patients and family members, no obvious changes in the patient's personality and hobbies before and after surgery were found.

Even if there are some changes, they are not caused by the transplant memory caused by the transplanted heart. Judging from his experience in contact with patients, patients have been in pain for a long time before surgery, which will be greatly affected physically and mentally, and there will be some emotional changes.

Function of the heart

The function of the heart is to pump blood, or circulate, through blood vessels into various parts of the body. Blood provides nutrients and oxygen to the body. All cells require oxygen to survive.

Blood vessels are divided into arteries and veins. Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood. The aorta is the largest artery in the body. Arteries are like tree branches that emanate from the aorta and reach various parts of the body, supplying them with oxygen-rich blood.

Veins carry low-oxygenated or deoxygenated blood used by cells. Deoxygenated blood flows from the venules to the largest veins, the superior and inferior vena cava. Veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the right heart, where it is replenished with oxygen through the pulmonary circulation.

The heart beats 60-100 times per minute and lasts your entire life. This contraction is stimulated and controlled by the heart's natural pacemakers. After the current starts, it first causes the simultaneous contraction of the left and right atria, followed by the simultaneous contraction of the left and right ventricles. This synchronized electrical stimulation causes the heart to pump and circulate blood. This blood flow can be felt through your pulse. The electrical activity of the heart as it pumps blood can also be traced by an electrocardiogram. 7 ways to enhance your heart function

1. Participate in physical exercise within your ability. Surveys show that those who do not exercise regularly will have premature heart failure by 10 to 15 years, and the incidence of coronary heart disease will be 1 to 3.5 times higher. A well-trained athlete's heartbeat is slow and powerful. However, the amount of exercise should not be too large. Generally, it is appropriate to exercise with the heart rate 50% faster than usual.

2. Avoid getting emotional. Excessive emotions, such as anger, joy, sadness, etc., can cause vasoconstriction, increase blood pressure, and accelerate heartbeat, thereby increasing the burden on the heart. Therefore, we must be calm, learn to be tolerant, and treat everything calmly.

3. Control your diet. Obesity can lead to high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis, and overeating can induce angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. Some patients who die suddenly are often due to a full dinner. Therefore, we should pay attention to diet and advocate eating 70% to 80% full. At the same time, we should eat less animal fat and more fresh vegetables and fruits.

4. The diet should be light. Too much salt can increase blood pressure, increase blood viscosity and increase the burden on the heart. Therefore, normal adults should consume 6 to 8 grams of salt per day, while people with heart insufficiency should not consume more than 3 to 5 grams of salt.

5. Increase magnesium intake. Magnesium can prevent the synthesis of cholesterol, inhibit nerve excitability, and maintain the normal contraction and contraction function of myocardial fibers and the elasticity of coronary arteries. Magnesium deficiency in the human body can lead to tachycardia, arrhythmia, and obvious myocardial necrosis and calcification. Therefore, magnesium is known as the "heart protector."

6. Eat meat appropriately. Red meat (such as pork, beef, mutton, etc.) should not be eaten more than 2 to 3 times a week, and animal offal (liver, heart, etc.) should not be eaten more than once. In addition, it is best to eat seafood twice a week, because seafood is not only rich in calcium and potassium, which can lower blood pressure, but also contains substances that greatly reduce the risk of blood clots.

7. Live a regular life and avoid fatigue. Overworking the human body is not only harmful to health, but also increases the burden on the heart.