In this week of valentine, maybe it is the perfect time to discuss anything related with love. And, yes, today I’m gonna discuss a little bit about love and its relationship with our heart health.

“Please listen to what my heart is saying now, honey“, maybe that statement will be often heard this week. We often use the “heart” word as expression of love. But some medical papers have proven that “heart” words are really related with the real heart health. In simple words, if your heart is happy, it contributes good effect for your heart health. And if you’re deeply broken hearted, later you will have bad effect for your health heart.

How come? Here some of the scientific explanations for that.

Michael Irwin, MD, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine, is also director of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. It’s a research center named for the late Norman Cousins, a journalist who, in the late 1970s, introduced Americans to the concept of holistic healing — that positive emotions can impact one’s health.

“People who are depressed — and who have heart disease — are more likely to have higher levels of cytokines, molecules that are linked with immunity and with inflammation,” he explains. “There’s good evidence from animal studies that increased levels of cytokines put people at risk for depression, which becomes a vicious cycle that leads to greater heart disease.”

Through functional MRI, researchers “can examine very precisely how people respond to a change… exactly how their brain activity is altered when they relax or if they have higher cytokine levels,” explains Irwin. “As a medical doctor, I want to know how these findings affect my patients — and people with heart disease may be more sensitive to stressors. Depressed people are more sensitive to stressors. Until we understand that, we can’t develop new treatments.”

Doctors will tell you, “broken heart syndrome” or stress-induced heart failure is a medical condition — and a perfect example of the heart’s power and vulnerability, writes Mimi Guarneri, MD, a practicing cardiologist and author of the book, The Heart Speaks. “The condition seems to be caused by high levels of hormones that the body produces during severe stress, which can be temporarily toxic to the heart.”

So, it is true -not just myth- that your emotional feeling, your love status is closely related to your heart health condition. In this week of love (people say that, don’t they?), let’s celebrate the healthy and happy love. It doesn’t have to absolutely be with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, husband or wife, but love is everywhere around you.

Speak out love, and stay healthy always!