Scientific research over the decades has verified what some people, including ancient cultures, have long believed. More than a remarkable pump, the heart is a source of wisdom, a local biologist said. ADVERTISING Scientific research over the decades has verified
Scientific research over the decades has verified what some people, including ancient cultures, have long believed. More than a remarkable pump, the heart is a source of wisdom, a local biologist said.
Inside the Kealakekua Public Library Wednesday evening, Dr. Carla Hannaford, who’s also an award-winning author and educator, asked audience members to hold two fists together, knuckles facing each other, in front of their bodies. This she revealed is the brain’s actual size. “Most people think the brain is humongous. It’s actually the size of a sheep’s brain,” she said.
Hannaford showed examples of how the brain, often considered the most important organ in our body, has a blown-up status. Responsible for all mental operations, the brain’s importance is clear, but what most don’t realize is “the brain is the last to get it,” Hannaford said.
“In 1962, Dr. Armour at Yale University discovered was there was 80 percent more fibers — nerve fibers — from the heart to the brain than the other way around. He made the audacious statement that the heart must be controlling the brain. And we said, ‘That’s crazy! No way! It’s just a pump.’ We’re seeing different right now.”
Her presentation on the heart-brain connection was sponsored by the Friends of the Libraries Kona, which brings free programs for all ages as a community service. Hannaford shared research about our intelligent hearts. She also spoke about the importance of moving and being present to maintain heart coherence, key to having creative and growth-filled lives.
Despite what’s typically taught in school about the heart constantly responding to the brain’s orders, research has shown the heart controls the brain. The heart sends far more signals and information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart, Hannaford said.
As for consciousness, researchers have concluded it is “experience in the body, with the body doing.”
Hannaford told the story of a 4-year-old girl named Brandy, who sang, danced, climbed trees and rode horse. Brandy started having hundreds of seizures a day. Her parents visited several doctors and tried everything. Finally one doctor diagnosed her with Rasmussen’s encephalitis, which affects one side of the brain, and for Brandy it was the right side. The treatment was to remove half of the brain, which would leave her left side paralyzed. Her family had no idea how Brandy’s life would be following the surgery, but made it a point to challenge Brandy every day, getting her to move and play.
When Hannaford met Brandy, she was a teenager triumphing over adversity. She was a good student who loved singing, dancing and boys. She won a couple of art contests. She had a very slight long-term memory problem and a lift in her left shoe. Besides having a happy, full life, what was most remarkable was her brain’s ability to make new connections. The left side had taken over the functions from the missing side, Hannaford said.
Possessing its own sophisticated intrinsic nervous system, which functions the same as the brain, the heart can independently sense, process information, make decisions and remember, Hannaford said.
Hannaford asked the audience to consider the experiences of a psychologist who worked with patients before and after their heart replacement surgeries. She said his clients included a vegan woman who suddenly craved fast food burgers and fries, the favorite meal of the teenage boy whose heart she received, and a man who ended up using the favorite colloquial phrases, which he never knew before, of the woman whose heart he got.
The heart also plays a role in intuition. Its electromagnetic field is so powerful and large it can affect those around them, Hannaford said.
She talked about a study, involving University of Arizona students wearing portable EKGs and EGGs hooked up to their hearts and heads. These students, none of whom knew each other, would come into the room. Within five minutes, their hearts came into entrainment, or synchronization, and then their brains would do so, Hannaford said.
EKG system developers knew you could put a lead, about 3 feet away for the heart, and get the electromagnetic field because it was big. With a machine called the superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID, we now know the heart field extends about 15 feet away from the body, Hannaford said.
“So at this moment we’re all sitting in each other’s heart field. It is the largest field from our body, and it’s somehow meeting the environment and telling us what’s going on,” she said. “Some of you know that when you go in a room, and even though people are smiling, something is wrong. What you’re picking it up is the vibration field.”
Hannaford talked about a study done by neuroscience educator involving toddlers playing on a playground. In between the playground and the road was a soccer field. At various times, different subjects appeared at the road about 100 yards away from the playground. The presence of a nanny and a dog didn’t interrupt the children playing. But a man, convicted of killing and molesting children, instantly caused the children to stop playing and go to their parents. The reason, Hannaford said, was the huge electromagnetic field around the heart, though there is still much to be understood about it.
Hannaford mentioned how the study of brain-heart connection has shown how negative emotions, including stress, throw heart rhythms and brainwave patterns out of sync. “When incoherent, under stress, frustrated or upset, the brain is uncoordinated and your outer portion of the brain will shut down about 75 to 85 percent,” she said. “The heart’s input during these times can make a tremendous difference. When someone is coherent with their heart rhythm, they can come into entrainment and both hemispheres of the brain come on, helping their body work better.”
To learn more, go to carlahannaford.com.
