Gotcha! The Japanese calls the clay jugs they use to trap octopus as “takotsubo.” Octopuses like hanging out inside dark, hidden places. (Photo : Engadget)
Perhaps with a heavy heart, scientists--and people might be saddened to hear this--said that being happy can cause a heart attack.
Yes, the counterpart of sadness can be a possible culprit behind the weakening of the heart, reported The Huffington Post.
Both the positive and negative events that a person experiences can trigger takotsubo syndrome (TTS), according to the European Heart Journal published in March.
As the European Society of Cardiology said, “Happiness can break your heart, too.”
In a study conducted, happy events triggered the TTS of 20 of the 485 patients who have it. As for the remaining 465 patients, TTS hit them after facing a sad event, reported ESC.
People with TTS, therefore, should be aware of the “happy heart syndrome.”
“Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a temporary condition where your heart muscle becomes suddenly weakened or ‘stunned,’” according to the British Heart Foundation.
Takotsubo is a Japanese term for octopus pot or octopus trap.
Cardiomyopathy (cardio = heart, myo = muscle, pathy = denoting feelings) refers to severe heart muscle weakness.
Also called stress cardiomyopathy, this condition likewise goes by a more dramatic term: “broken heart syndrome.” Its two main symptoms, according to BHF, are breathlessness and chest pains. It commonly affects middle-aged women (about 45 to about 64 years old), reported AustralianDoctors.com.
Yogis may like what one cardiologist from New York City has to say regarding the prevention of TTS.
“We need to enhance the mind-body relationship,” said Dr. Harmony Reynolds, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Reynolds considers “yoga, meditation and guided relaxation, specifically breathing” as ideal “prevention strategies” in dealing with TTS.
The International Takotsubo Registry, “an international, observational Web-based registry in patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy,” has been operating since 2011 at the Cardiovascular Center, University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, according to its website.
Cardiologists Dr. Christian Templin and Dr. Jelena R. Ghadri established it together with other “dedicated team of physicians.”
Sato and others from Japan were the first ones who described TTS in 1990, according to the website.
