Chapter 7: Science of the Heart

Scientists at the HeartMath Research Center in Boulder Creek, California are studying the profound effects of positive feelings such as love, compassion, and kindness on our bodies and brains. Their research supports the notion that it’s important for runners to “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”¹

I’ll be referring to the HeartMath research often in this chapter. For readers interested in the original, technical citations, I’ve included them as endnotes at the end of the book.

(Disclaimer: I have no financial or other interest in HeartMath or its products.)

Here are some of the HeartMath findings:

• Positive emotional states exert a whole-body synchronizing effect by bringing brain waves, heart rhythms, breathing, and blood-pressure oscillations into a unified, harmonious rhythm. During positive feelings, “bodily systems function with a high degree of synchronization, efficiency and harmony.”ⁱ

• Deliberately focusing attention in the heart while cultivating feelings of love, compassion, etc., leads to clearer thinking, calmer emotions, and improved physical performance and health, as well as increased frequency of subjective reports of spiritual experiences.ⁱⁱ

• Positive, expansive feelings such as love, appreciation, and compassion promote relaxation and synchronization of the nervous system. They quiet the “arousal” (sympathetic) branch of the nervous system and activate the “relaxation” (parasympathetic) side. The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is responsible for speeding up heart rate and preparing the body for action, while the parasympathetic branch governs the “relaxation response,” slowing heart rate and calming body, emotions, and brain.ⁱⁱⁱ

• Positive feelings quiet the mind, generate a sense of “self-security, peace and love,” and increase the frequency of reported feelings of “connectedness to God.”^iv

• Additionally, the researchers found that negative emotions such as anger, fear, and hatred make the heartbeat change speeds erratically – the heart literally speeds up and slows down chaotically from one beat to the next, like the random, jerky motion of a car that’s running out of gas. (See figure below.)

• Positive emotions such as love, compassion, and appreciation, on the other hand, make the heart beat with a harmonious, regular rhythm. During negative emotions, the heart’s irregular speed-changes appear as jagged, disordered spikes, and its power output is relatively low. Simple relaxation produces a more regular rhythm. But deliberately cultivating positive emotions makes the heart beat in a steady, consistent, harmonious rhythm, reflected in the regular, sine-wave pattern in the figure (“Appreciation”). During positive emotions, the heart’s power output jumps by over 500% above the levels attained during negative emotions and simple relaxation. (In the figure above, note the Power Spectral Density [PSD] scale in “Appreciation.”) The coherent mode doesn’t appear to depend on heart rate; coherency can appear at high or low heart rates – i.e., harmonious feelings can occur at any running speed.

The HeartMath findings have begun to find practical applications in professional sports. The following is an excerpt from an article on the website of the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA):

When we’re stressed or upset, it’s physically impossible to think clearly or perform at our best. This is because a disordered heart rhythm pattern sends a signal to the brain that inhibits the cortex, the higher thinking and reasoning part of the brain. On the other hand, when we are feeling confident, secure, and appreciative, our heart rhythms become smooth and even…. Smooth heart rhythm patterns send a signal to the brain that synchronizes and facilitates cortical function, speeding up our reaction times and making it easier to think clearly, perceive a bigger picture, and make better decisions.²

The heart and brain communicate continually through the nervous system; thus, the heart’s powerful positive and negative, harmonizing or disruptive messages are carried instantly to the brain, where they enhance or interfere with our ability to remain cool and concentrate. (The heart is the body’s most powerful oscillator, sending out electrical signals roughly 60 times as strong those emitted by the brain.)

To summarize: positive, harmonious feelings enhance mental focus, calmness, health, performance, intuition (as we’ll see shortly), and the frequency of spiritual feelings. They increase relaxation, alpha-wave output in the brain (associated with a calm, meditative state), and synchronize heart-rhythm patterns, respiratory rhythms, and blood pressure oscillations.

Whether our goal is peak performance, “inner quality,” zone experiences, or spiritual communion, it’s good to remember that changing our feelings can be a powerful tool. Anything we can do to stimulate positive feelings, including running in the harmony zone, will encourage clear thinking and boost physical performance.

The HeartMath scientists also discovered that the rhythms of a person’s heart may synchronize with another person’s heartbeat at distances up to five feet – good reason to keep company with positive, upbeat people, and avoid whiners and complainers.

The heart isn’t the only portal to inner “quality.” As athletes, we have a special advantage. On days when it’s difficult to muster positive feelings, we can “work the other way round,” and use the body to stimulate a more buoyant mood. Many spiritual traditions recommend rhythmic movement – dancing, running, physical postures, etc. – to harmonize and uplift heart and mind.

Focusing attention and energy in the area of the physical heart, while dwelling on positive thoughts, feelings, and memories, is one effective aid for achieving “psychophysiological coherence.” Breathing exercises are another.

In Body, Mind, and Sport, John Douillard, a former professional triathlete, describes a breathing technique that increases oxygen absorption in the lungs and stimulates parasympathetic (relaxation) nerve centers in the lower lungs. Douillard’s field tests showed that the method also increases alpha-wave production in the brain, indicative of a meditative, zone-like state. Douillard borrowed the breathing method from yoga. In yoga lore, it’s believed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex, the area in the brain where certain positive attitudes and abilities are localized, such as mental focus, optimism, and the ability to form and persevere in attaining long-term goals.

The method involves nose-breathing, while optionally making a “Darth Vader” sound in the throat during exhalation, as if you were blowing on a pair of glasses – “Aaah” – but with your mouth closed. Don’t laugh – it may take several weeks to get used to nose-breathing, it does work. Douillard explains that in all mammals, mouth-breathing is associated with a fight-or-flight response, while nose-breathing is associated with calmness and poise. During training runs of up to 35 miles, I’ve found that I feel more relaxed, focused, and less tired when I nose-breathe, though I rarely practice the Darth Vader sound. May the Force be with you.

Several high-end Polar heart monitors now use heart-rate variability data to help runners determine their best individual warmup pace. At the start of a run, the amplitude of heart-rate variability falls off rapidly until a runner’s heart rate reaches roughly 65% of maximum, whereupon the amplitude levels off and falls much more gradually as running speed increases. The Polar monitors signal a runner when heart rate reaches the 65% plateau. The Polar scientists feel this is a safer, more precise way to determine a sensible 65% warmup pace than testing maximum heart rate with a stressful all-out run, or using the notoriously inaccurate age-based formulas and tables. You simply start running slowly and let the monitor tell you when you’ve reached 65% of your heart rate maximum.

It’s important to note that the initial fall-off in amplitude of heart-rate variability doesn’t indicate that running, by itself, reduces heart-rate variability, or that faster running makes us feel calmer and more positive. What happens is that, as the heart beats faster, there’s less time for large variations in heart rate to develop. Think of it like this: when your feelings are negative, your heart still changes speed chaotically, but with a faster, lighter beat.

John Douillard recommends warming up no faster than approximately 50% of maximum heart rate, calculated by the Karvonen formula (for me, though of course not for all runners, this works out to just under 65% of MHR). To calculate 50% of your MHR by the Karvonen formula, subtract your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate; divide the resulting number by 2, than add your resting heart rate.

In his book, Douillard reports that Kenneth Cooper, the “Aerobics” pioneer, now suggests that the optimal pace for general fitness running is about 65% of maximum heart rate (as a straight percentage of MHR, not as calculated by the Karvonen formula).

What’s certain is that positive feelings help our hearts and bodies work more efficiently, whether we’re jogging at aerobic pace or racing an all-out 5K.