Mind-Heart-Body Connection

A scientific statement from the American Heart Association revealed that there are good data showing clear associations between psychological health and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and risk, so called the mind-heart-body connection; there is increasing evidence that psychological health may be causally linked to biological, behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms that contribute to and cause CVD; Both positive psychological status (such as happiness, positive affect, emotional vitality, optimism, sense of purpose, gratitude, psychological well-being, and mindfulness) and negative psychological status (such as stress, negative outlook, anxiety, anger and hostility, and depression) appear to affect cardiovascular health and prognosis directly; the preponderance of data suggest that interventions to improve psychological health can have a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health; simple screening measures can be used by health care providers for patients with or at risk for CVD to assess psychological health status; and consideration of psychological health is advisable in the evaluation and management of patients with or at risk for CVD. Source: https://www.ahajournals.org/