Dr. Sinatra explains the best way to cope with stress and spare your heart. You must respect your feelings, he says, because your feelings are the truth. Learn more about Dr. Sinatra's unique approach to stress management and heart health. Watch the video now.
Transcript
You know, folks, I studied ten years of psychotherapy. In fact, I got a certification in bioenergetic psychotherapy, because I realized that in order to be a good cardiologist, I needed to study the heart from the neck up.
Yes, it's true; there's a hot, I'll say it again, a hot brain heart line. What goes on in the brain can affect the heart and vice versa. And stress can hurt you; there's no doubt about it.
Now, look, we all have stress in our life. We can't live a life without stress.
But it's not the stress that hurts you, but it's how you cope. It's how you react to that stress stimuli.
I remember one of my mentors, Dr. Robert Elliott, who wrote the book, It's Not Worth Dying For. He said, "Look, first of all, there's nothing worth dying for," and I agree.
And the other thing he said, "Don't sweat the small stuff, because it's all small stuff anyway." He would recommend going with the least form of resistance.
I agree with that. I agree with the fact that if you're dealing with a situation that you have no control over, well, go with the flow.
Again, live in your awareness. Trust your feelings. If you're coping with a situation and you don't know what to do, but you feel angry and sad, well, experience the feeling.
Sadness is important to experience, because I believe suppressed sadness could cause cardiovascular events later in life.
That's why I wrote the book, Heartbreak and Heart Disease. You must, you must respect your feelings because your feelings are the truth.
Remember, whatever goes down in this part of the body tells the truth. Above the neck lies a lot.
So, if you're sad; again, don't ask why I'm sad. Just be sad and cry, if you want to.
Crying is the best way to alleviate the heartbreak that could lead to heart problems later on.
My favorite stress reduction techniques include breathing, because when you breathe into pain, psychic pain, emotional pain, you're breathing, you're take a full breathe and again, you're supporting the parasympathetic limb of the autonomic nervous system.
I like laughter; laughter is great. And if you laugh deeply enough, you could cry. And to me, like I said before, crying is one of the best ways of alleviating stress because it helps soften the body.
