Dear readers,
This blog was due to be uploaded on Thursday but being the Eid day, I delayed it deliberately.
Dear readers! you and I also, have heard the above-mentioned quote from our elderly people which means they are describing a severe burning sensation in their chest or throat, most often caused by acid reflux or angina (heart distress due to low blood flow).
Today, when I was reading an article titled “Your heart in flames” published in Scientific American of May 26, the above quote occurred to my mind, and I decided to blog on this issue.
Heartburn is a painful, feeling in the middle of the chest caused by stomach acid rising into oesophagus: a hollow, muscular tube that connects throat to stomach. People usually experience this as an occasional symptom but for many others, it is a chronic condition for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Approximately 20% of people in the U.S. have GERD. Risk factors include obesity (having a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 and overweight (BMI greater than 25), smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke.
Doctors have been trying to understand various risks for heart disease, which kills more Americans every year than any other illness and includes
- hypertension
- smoking,
- high levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and
- type 2 diabetes.
But, when patients having none of these problems die from heart attacks, it leaves heart specialist blind as they don’t get any idea why it happened?
A report published in 2023 found that hospitalized acute coronary patients without any of the four hazards were 57 percent more likely to die compared with those who had at least one, which means that of the 920,000 Americans who die of cardiovascular disease every year, about 230,000 have no understandable reason (s) for their death. Director of the Canter for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston says, “there must be some other fundamental determinant of heart diseases” and that missing link could be chronic inflammation: a prolonged body-damaging state of immune system activation which may accelerates cardiovascular problems to a dangerous and deadly state.
When cholesterol builds up in the arteries, its shape-shifts (an ability to physically or supernaturally transform one’s form, identity, or nature) into a sharp and uneven form which body don’t recognizes, thereby provoking the immune system to wage war against it.
“It is a battle with no winners, and the wreckage it leaves behind ends up in heart attacks and strokes”.
The idea now is widely accepted by other scientists who considered heart disease “a disease of inflammation” and alleviating it might protect the organ. Doctors and researchers are therefore, testing different anti-inflammatory therapies with precise modes of action. They have started seeing the vascular system not as a series of clogged pipes but as battlefields of inflammation. For many decades, the dogma among doctors and scientists was that atherosclerosis (a chronic medical condition where plaque, cholesterol, and fatty substances, builds up inside arteries narrowed, hardened them, and restrict blood flow. It’s a mechanical process which is an inevitable by-product of aging. Most of the researcher interpreted these findings as evidence of inflammation that might develop in response to atherosclerosis. To get more details, pl. read the full article at the following link
To me the remedy lies in a famous quote of Soyen Shaku: a monk who brought Buddhism to the United States. Shaku who once said,
“My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes”
“My heart burns like fire” represents the inner spirit, compassion, and a fierce, disciplined drive to live with earnestness and intention. It means being deeply engaged with life and feeling a throbbing, passionate connection to the world and its people” while
“My eyes are as cold as dead ashes” refers to the mind’s ability to remain completely detached, objective, and free from competing thoughts, selfish desires, or ego. When a fire goes out and leaves only dead ashes, it symbolizes that all cravings, distractions, and emotional agitations have settled. The quote thus, highlights an ideal state of experiencing immense love, passion, and inner vitality, while maintaining an unclouded, perfectly calm awareness that is not overwhelmed by the chaos of the world.
This is what is required to fight the first and the foremost gigantic risk of heart stork the “hypertension”: a chronic medical condition in which the force of blood pushing against the walls of arteries is consistently too high. Over time, this forces the heart to work harder which can lead to severe health complications like heart attacks and strokes.
That’s all for now dear readers. See you again. Take good care specially of your heart. Bye.
