Secrets of the heart-brain connection | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata
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0:10 - 0:13Do you know what Aristotle believed?
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0:14 - 0:18Aristotle said that we think
with our hearts -
0:18 - 0:22and the brain only cools the blood
coming from our hearts -
0:22 - 0:24after thinking.
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0:24 - 0:26Doesn't it sound outrageous
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0:26 - 0:29that one of the most brilliant minds
in human history -
0:29 - 0:33had paralleled the human brain
to a radiator? -
0:34 - 0:40I think we all agree that this time
Aristotle was wrong. -
0:41 - 0:45For about 10 years, I've been studying
the heart-brain relationship. -
0:46 - 0:51Basically, the way in which the heart
induces neurological disease, -
0:51 - 0:55like cerebral vascular accidents,
-
0:55 - 0:58and how the brain induces heart disease,
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0:58 - 1:00like arrhythmias.
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1:01 - 1:05And through this research
I came across many surprises. -
1:05 - 1:10That belief that we only think
with our brain -
1:10 - 1:14and that the heart only pumps blood,
is not that accurate. -
1:15 - 1:20For example, how many times you were told
to "decide with your heart"? -
1:20 - 1:25What does this pump of pure muscle
have to do with decision-making? -
1:25 - 1:28Or maybe with the intuition,
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1:28 - 1:30which sometimes we need
to make decisions? -
1:31 - 1:34There is a study by Cambridge University
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1:34 - 1:38that revolutionized the subject
on deciding with our hearts. -
1:38 - 1:41And opened the path to what we call:
-
1:41 - 1:43"research in decision-making."
-
1:44 - 1:48In this study, subjects were asked
to participate in a game -
1:48 - 1:51in which they had to make decisions
-
1:51 - 1:55based on simulated situations
on a computer. -
1:56 - 2:00There were always two options:
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2:00 - 2:04one with a favorable outcome,
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2:04 - 2:06the other with a unfavorable outcome.
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2:07 - 2:12While participating in the game,
they had their heart beats monitored -
2:12 - 2:18in order to know how the heart reacted
just before making a decision. -
2:20 - 2:22And what they found was that
-
2:22 - 2:26before making a decision that
would have a favorable outcome, -
2:26 - 2:29the heart beat in a particular way.
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2:29 - 2:33But when they were going to make
a unfavorable decision, -
2:33 - 2:35it beat in a totally different way.
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2:36 - 2:38So, apparently,
-
2:38 - 2:42the heart knew before the brain
was conscious, -
2:42 - 2:44if the decision about to be taken
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2:44 - 2:46was going to be favorable
or unfavorable. -
2:47 - 2:51I ask you to keep this in mind
-
2:51 - 2:55and we'll make an exercise ourselves,
we'll experiment with our bodies. -
2:56 - 2:59Please, close your eyes.
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3:01 - 3:04Close your eyes and keep quiet,
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3:04 - 3:08and put your hands over your knees,
until I tell you so. -
3:10 - 3:13While doing this test,
-
3:13 - 3:17I'd like to know if you can sense
your heart beats. -
3:24 - 3:27OK, please open your eyes.
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3:28 - 3:33Please, raise your hands those of you
who were able to sense your heart beats. -
3:35 - 3:37Perfect, approximately 50 percent.
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3:37 - 3:41Among those who raised their hands
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3:41 - 3:44probably many of them have developed
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3:44 - 3:47an ability called interoception.
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3:49 - 3:50What is the interoception?
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3:50 - 3:55It's the capacity of sensing
the messages produced by our bodies, -
3:55 - 3:56sent by our bodies.
-
3:56 - 3:59For example, in this case,
our heart beats. -
4:00 - 4:03Back to the experiment carried out
at Cambridge University, -
4:03 - 4:08those participating in the game
had done what you have -
4:08 - 4:12and were classified in those
with good interoception, -
4:12 - 4:14and those with bad interoception.
-
4:15 - 4:18The most interesting fact
in this experiment was that -
4:18 - 4:23those with good interoception made
favorable decisions more frequently -
4:23 - 4:25than those without good interoception.
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4:26 - 4:31The conclusion of this seems to be
that those people able to detect, -
4:31 - 4:38decode and process messages sent
by our hearts before making a decision, -
4:38 - 4:41apparently can make better decisions.
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4:41 - 4:45Like in any other revolutionary
experiment like this one, -
4:45 - 4:49it's necessary to check results with other
scientists making similar studies. -
4:49 - 4:53But, meanwhile, don't you think
that sayings like: -
4:53 - 4:56"listen to your heart"
or "I have gut feeling" -
4:56 - 4:58don't sound so wrong when deciding?
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4:59 - 5:04But how do brain and heart
collaborate in such manner -
5:04 - 5:06when making a decision?
-
5:06 - 5:12There's a specific area inside the brain,
the main subject of our research, -
5:12 - 5:14called insula.
-
5:14 - 5:18It's called insula because it resembles
an island underneath the cortex, -
5:18 - 5:22and is hidden, and extremely connected
to the whole brain. -
5:22 - 5:26It resembles a local airport
-
5:26 - 5:29where all connections
arrive to and depart from. -
5:30 - 5:33But the insula is also connected
to other organs -
5:33 - 5:36like the heart or the bowel,
among others, -
5:36 - 5:39and so, it is also an
international airport -
5:39 - 5:43where all connections to other organs
-
5:43 - 5:47besides the brain
come to and depart from. -
5:47 - 5:51Most interestingly about the insula
is that it's made purely of neurons, -
5:51 - 5:53and the heart is pure muscle.
-
5:53 - 5:55So you may say:
-
5:55 - 5:59How can these two organs communicate
being so different? -
6:00 - 6:06The answer is quite surprising
because the heart, like the brain, -
6:06 - 6:07has neurons.
-
6:09 - 6:12Those white spots you see there
in the heart are neurons, -
6:12 - 6:16group of neurons, where connections
from the brain arrive to. -
6:17 - 6:20And this you are seeing
is a typical heart; -
6:20 - 6:21the heart's anatomy.
-
6:21 - 6:26And what happened throughout
human history for a heart like that -
6:26 - 6:30to become the universal symbol of love?
-
6:30 - 6:34What does the heart have to do
with loving or falling in love? -
6:36 - 6:39In other study,
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6:39 - 6:43subjects were asked to bring pictures
of someone they loved deeply, -
6:43 - 6:47and somebody who didn't mean
anything to them. -
6:47 - 6:50They used a special kind of magnetic
resonance imaging, called "functional," -
6:50 - 6:55that let us see which parts
of the brain are being activated -
6:55 - 6:58after certain stimuli,
or certain actions. -
6:59 - 7:01What came out
from this experiment is that -
7:01 - 7:04when subjects saw the picture
of their loved ones, -
7:04 - 7:10areas related with pleasure
and reward were activated. -
7:12 - 7:15And not by chance, one of those areas
was indeed the insula. -
7:16 - 7:20The insula seems to be related,
along with other areas of the brain, -
7:20 - 7:23with functions
-
7:23 - 7:26that allow us to be aware
that we're in love. -
7:26 - 7:30It allows us to say, "This is
the person I am in love with." -
7:30 - 7:33And also because of its connections
with the brain, -
7:33 - 7:37with the heart and with the bowel,
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7:37 - 7:40makes it possible that
when we are with our beloved -
7:40 - 7:43we have tachycardia, palpitations,
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7:43 - 7:46and that feeling of having
butterflies in our stomach, -
7:46 - 7:48when we are in love.
-
7:48 - 7:53So, we fall in love with our brains,
and not with our hearts. -
7:54 - 7:57This level of interconnection
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7:58 - 8:04with our brain and also the insula,
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8:04 - 8:08has many functional repercussions,
-
8:08 - 8:14but it also may result
in health problems. -
8:16 - 8:20For example, I would like
to show you this graphic: -
8:20 - 8:25In the horizontal axis we have
the months of May, June and July. -
8:26 - 8:28And in the vertical axis,
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8:28 - 8:32the number of heart attacks in Munich.
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8:36 - 8:41In 2003, the number of heart attacks
stayed constant, -
8:41 - 8:43there were no changes.
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8:43 - 8:46In 2005, something similar happened.
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8:48 - 8:52In 2006, during May
everything stayed the same; -
8:53 - 8:57during June and July there was a sudden
rise in the number of heart attacks. -
8:58 - 8:59What happened?
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9:00 - 9:04OK, many of you already noticed:
the 2006 World Soccer Cup. -
9:05 - 9:06(Laughter)
-
9:06 - 9:10And each match played by Germany,
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9:10 - 9:13is represented by each peak
you see in this graphic. -
9:15 - 9:20Most interesting is that peak number 5,
-
9:21 - 9:27is the match for quarter finals
between Germany and Argentina -
9:28 - 9:30which final result
I'd rather not mention. -
9:30 - 9:31(Laughter)
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9:32 - 9:36This match was being watched by a friend
called Hans at his house. -
9:38 - 9:40Hans was sitting in front of the TV,
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9:40 - 9:45and saw the first and the second half
which ended even -
9:45 - 9:48and all the definition by penalty.
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9:48 - 9:50Germany was winning 4 to 2,
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9:51 - 9:52the last penalty pending,
-
9:54 - 9:58Cambiasso prepares to kick
and Lehmann is at the soccer goal. -
9:59 - 10:04Cambiasso kicks, Lehmann gets it,
Germany classifies, -
10:04 - 10:08and Hans, a extremely passionate fan,
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10:08 - 10:09(Laughter)
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10:10 - 10:14screams like ever, releases all
his energy and adrenaline accumulated -
10:14 - 10:18during those 90 minutes plus penalties,
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10:18 - 10:21and after finishing screaming
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10:21 - 10:24ends up in hospital with a heart attack.
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10:25 - 10:27Like many other Germans
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10:27 - 10:31that day when the number
of heart attacks in Munich tripled. -
10:32 - 10:36Hans is a living example
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10:36 - 10:40of how some emotions affecting our brain
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10:40 - 10:45result in cardiac problems.
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10:46 - 10:50The stress suffered by Hans,
that adrenaline overdose -
10:50 - 10:53compromised his heart
and resulted in a heart attack. -
10:54 - 10:56So, here we ask ourselves,
-
10:58 - 11:02do we have to give up
and accept that we are exposed -
11:02 - 11:06to what this complex brain-heart system
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11:06 - 11:08exposes us to, regarding our emotions?
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11:08 - 11:10Or is there something we can do?
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11:11 - 11:18Science is opening many doors,
one of them to ancient techniques. -
11:19 - 11:22Techniques that albeit having
thousands and thousands of years, -
11:22 - 11:27have only been explored serious
and intensively during the last years. -
11:27 - 11:30One of them is "mindfulness."
-
11:32 - 11:35Mindfulness is somewhat
a form of meditation -
11:35 - 11:40that allows us to concentrate
in what's going on around, -
11:41 - 11:44in physical sensations, emotions,
-
11:45 - 11:47and in messages from our bodies.
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11:47 - 11:51Does this "messages from our bodies"
ring a bell to you? Interoception? -
11:53 - 11:56When I heard about mindfulness
10 or 12 years ago, -
11:56 - 11:59I was absolutely skeptical
because, sure enough, -
11:59 - 12:03there was no scientific evidence, none.
-
12:03 - 12:06And as we tend to think
with scientific and medical minds, -
12:06 - 12:09if is not proven, it's useless.
-
12:10 - 12:13So look at what happened
during the last 10 years. -
12:13 - 12:15From 2005 to 2015:
-
12:15 - 12:19Scientific publications which have
the word "mindfulness" in their title. -
12:20 - 12:23An important increase and most of them,
-
12:24 - 12:28the most important part
of the publications you're seeing, -
12:28 - 12:32is related to how useful mindfulness
can be to alleviate things like stress. -
12:33 - 12:36I know you are skeptical
-
12:37 - 12:39and have a curious mind
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12:39 - 12:43and you won't believe anything I say.
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12:43 - 12:46So let's pretend you're scientists,
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12:46 - 12:50and I ask you to think which
stressful situation we may use -
12:50 - 12:54to prove whether mindfulness
is useful in fighting stress or not. -
12:55 - 12:57Which is the worst-case scenario?
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12:58 - 12:59War.
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13:02 - 13:04In California, there is a center
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13:04 - 13:08where Marines are trained
before being sent to combat. -
13:08 - 13:11It's the last training
when a drill is carried out, -
13:12 - 13:14most stressful,
-
13:15 - 13:19where Marines are faced
with soldiers resembling -
13:19 - 13:21those they will confront.
-
13:22 - 13:24Noises are the same,
-
13:24 - 13:26smells are the same,
-
13:27 - 13:29and said by they themselves,
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13:29 - 13:32it's the most stressful moment
before going to war. -
13:34 - 13:36In this training center,
-
13:36 - 13:40half the Marines were offered to do
mindfulness during eight weeks. -
13:40 - 13:42The rest had usual training.
-
13:44 - 13:48They did mindfulness training,
and went through this terrible drill, -
13:50 - 13:52and afterwards,
they completed a questionnaire -
13:52 - 13:55assessing how stressed they were.
-
13:56 - 13:59Interestingly, those who underwent
mindfulness training, -
13:59 - 14:02were much less stressed out,
than those who didn't. -
14:02 - 14:05You may say, "Of course,
they were biased, -
14:05 - 14:09as they did mindfulness, they were
bound to say they were less stressed." -
14:09 - 14:13But they were also measured a protein
in their blood released by the brain -
14:13 - 14:15in extremely stressful situations.
-
14:15 - 14:19And those who had done mindfulness
had much lower levels -
14:19 - 14:21than those who had not.
-
14:21 - 14:24So, there's an objective
and a subjective demonstration -
14:24 - 14:27that there is something
we can do to diminish stress. -
14:27 - 14:32And there are plenty of experiments
like this one, portrayed in this graphic. -
14:34 - 14:39Thus, it seems that thanks to practices
existing for a long time, -
14:39 - 14:41and which science is proving nowadays,
-
14:41 - 14:46we may have the possibility of decreasing
the impact some emotions have -
14:46 - 14:48on our health and
on our heart-brain system. -
14:48 - 14:51Maybe in the future, science will tell,
-
14:51 - 14:56even diseases like stroke
and heart attacks may be prevented -
14:56 - 14:59by these kind of practices.
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14:59 - 15:02For now, I think we all have
-
15:03 - 15:08to acknowledge the genius
of Aristotle, the first to think -
15:08 - 15:11that heart and brain act as a system.
-
15:12 - 15:17And I think it is good to remember
the words by a wise man who said, -
15:17 - 15:21"A good head and a good heart
are always a formidable combination." -
15:21 - 15:22Thank you very much.
-
15:23 - 15:25(Applause)
- Title:
- Secrets of the heart-brain connection | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata
- Description:
-
How do the brain and the heart relate? What impact has this relationship in how we understand our emotions and how we make decisions? Luciano Sposato, one of the major world references in this subject, tells us some secrets of our body that have a clear impact on how we live, for instance, a World Cup. Luciano is perhaps the Argentinian neurologist who knows most about the cerebral blood vessels: he studies, treats and cure them. After his years in the Favaloro Foundation (where he created the first center for cerebral vascular accidents), he went on looking for other bloods in the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at: http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- Spanish
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 15:46
Sebastian Betti approved English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti accepted English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Secretos de la relación corazón-cerebro | Luciano Sposato | TEDxRiodelaPlata |