Emotions Effect on the Brain and Heart

Emotions are thought to only affect our brains, but they also affect our heart. Every thought, feeling, and reaction play a major role in the connection between our brain and heart. This relationship is often known as the neurocardiac link which explains why your heart can race when your angry or why your heart rate is steady when your calm. By understanding the link between the brain and the heart we can better understand how to maintain our emotions to keep ourselves mentally and physically healthy.

How the Brain Communicates with the Heart

The Brain and the heart are constantly colonization through the autonomic nervous which consists of two branches: the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. When we experience intense emotions such as fear, stress, or anger the sympathetic system releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These chemicals can increase heart rate and blood pressure to prepare the body to threats that is believes exist. Overtime though, chronic emotional stress can cause long lasting strain on the cardiovascular system.

In contrast, positive emotions like gratitude, love, and compassion can cause your parasympathetic system to be more active and slow down your heart rate which promotes relaxation. Having this kind of balance between the two systems is essential in maintaining heart rhythm stability and to reduce the inflammation in blood vessels.

The Science Behind Emotional Heart Reactions

Strong emotions can lead to immediate and measurable effects on heart functions. Studies have shown that extreme emotional distress can trigger Takotsubo cardiomyopathy which is more commonly known as "broken heart syndrome." This is a temporary condition that mimics the symptoms of a heart attack like chest pain and shortness of breath, but it does this without blocking arteries. It is caused by a sudden surge of stress hormones that temporarily weaken your heart muscles.

Additionally, chronic anxiety and depression are linked to increasing rink of hypertension and heart disease by a huge amount. Emotional dysregulation can alter heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is used as a key indicator of how the heart adapts to stress. Lower HRV is often associated with higher risks of arrhythmia and heart failure according to the American Heart Association.

Protecting the Brain-Heart Connection Through Emotional Balance

Caring for emotional health is an important aspect of cardiovascular prevention. Practices to improve your vagal tone include mindfulness, therapy, relaxation and practices of deep breathing to even gentle yoga. These can better help support your communication between the brain and the heart. Studies have shown that even simple acts of kindness or gratitude will trigger positive neurochemical responses which stabilize the heart rhythms and improve your overall mood.

Social support also plays a major role. People who maintain a healthy relationships and community connections usually have lower blood pressure, reduced inflammation, and a better heart outcome in the long-term. Emotional awareness and healthy coping not only make your like more peaceful, but they also make it longer and healthier.

Sources

C, T., & L, M. (2001). The impact of emotions on coronary heart disease risk. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11455850/

Mahmoud, O. A. A., Cagatay, B., Kucukler, N., Yalcin, F., & Garcia, M. J. (2025, October 28). Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and stressed heart morphology: Molecular, hemodynamic, and imaging intersections. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/14/21/7638/

Manolis, T. A., Manolis, A. A., & Manolis, A. S. (2025, January 1). Emotional stress in cardiac and vascular diseases. Current vascular pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39754763/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2025, September 18). Anger may harm heart and Blood Vessel Health. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/anger-may-harm-heart-blood-vessel-health

Malik, S., Ali, Z. S., Al-Rawi, R., Lavercombe, W., Gupta, S., Zhou, Z., Farina, J. M., Marcotte, L., & Baranchuk, A. U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2025, January 21). Emotions & heart:exploring the impact of negative emotions on Cardiovascular Health. Current problems in cardiology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39848354/