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“A Broken Heart Can Perfectly Mimic A Heart Attack”: Cardiologist Explores The Many Dimensions Of The Heart In New Book
“This is a book that traces the understanding of the heart throughout human society. It’s two journeys – one journey is human exploration and experimentation of the heart but it’s also a journey of curious obsession of the heart in all societies since ancient times."
Curious History Of The Heart
Can you imagine a skilled heart doctor, someone who works with heart problems every day, exploring not just how the heart keeps us alive but also its importance across centuries in art, culture, religion, philosophy, and science? Vincent M Figueredo, an experienced heart specialist, has written a book called "The Curious History of the Heart" published by Bloomsbury where he explores not only the vital role of the heart in keeping us alive but also its significance throughout history in art, culture, religion, philosophy, and science. Figueredo shares that his motivation to write this book goes back to his college days, where he mixed his premed courses with his passion for history, art, and religion. He has always been fascinated by well-researched books that focused on one subject and wanted to write an all encompassing history of heart. “I collected data for over 20 years and it took me almost 5 years to write the book,” he says.
Talking about the title of his book ‘The Curious History of the Heart’, Vincent shares, “When you look at how the heart has been viewed in different cultures and societies, it has taken many curious turns. In ancient society, the heart was the king of the organs, it was where the emotions, soul was, it was the way you connected with God, by the European Rennaissance the heart began to be demystified as nothing more than a pump, circulating blood. Curiously at the same time, the heart went viral symbolically as a symbol of love and it became very pervasive in art, music and literature, which remains to this day. Metaphorically it is in our daily lives everywhere. We give heartfelt things, we memorize things by heart, we give our heart to people.”
He further adds, “This is a book that traces the understanding of the heart throughout human society. It’s two journeys – one journey is human exploration and experimentation of the heart but it’s also a journey of curious obsession of the heart in all societies since ancient times. Why is the heart so important in our daily lives? We use heart emojis, we click heart to like something on Instagram, while playing video games, hearts tell you the lives you are left with, when you point to yourself, you point to the heart, not the brain. So I wanted to create a comprehensive history of the heart.”
The Curious History of the Heart
‘Heart’ remains the biggest killer
Post the pandemic, we all are more worried about our heart health and with an uptick in reported heart attack deaths, how can we not talk about the risks to the heart when discussing a book on the subject. “Despite amazing advances in the prevention of heart disease, it remains the number one killer around the world. While we can treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol and get people to stop smoking, the fact is there are several epidemics that are occurring in this world right now that are leading to heart diseases – they include diabetes, obesity, stress and depression– they are the epidemics of the 21st century.”
Vincent also explores the broken heart syndrome in his book. “There is a whole chapter on the broken heart – it is basically a shocked heart. It can mimic a heart attack perfectly and it occurs due to great emotional or physical stress. Loss of a loved one, being in a car accident, even people watching the World Cup. Couples who are married for a long time, and if one passes, the other passes away in a short period of time, due to the intense grief that has physical implications on the heart.”
Young people, even as early as their teens, can already have cholesterol buildup in their arteries. This happens because we often don't encourage healthy habits like exercise, a good diet, and avoiding smoking. If someone's family has a history of heart problems, especially if a family member had heart disease in their 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s (for women), it's a good idea to check their children's blood pressure and cholesterol levels. I've had college athletes come to me because their dads had heart issues around age 50, and after checking, I discovered high cholesterol, so we started treatment early.
Focusing on prevention, Vincent feels that the amount of research in the cardiology field is impressive. “By examining genetic risk, we can analyze people's genes to identify those at a higher risk of dying from heart-related illnesses. As the cost of genetic testing decreases, it's likely to become a standard practice.” This paves the way for a routine practice that holds the potential to save countless lives.
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