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Science of The Heart:
Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance

An Overview of Research Conducted by the Institute of HeartMath

1. Introduction
2. Heart Rate Variability
3. Entrainment, Coherence & Autonomic Balance
4. Head-Heart Interactions
5. Emotional Balance & Health
6. Music Research
7. HeartMath Technology in Business
8. HeartMath in Education
9. Clinical Research
10. Assessment Services
11. Scientific Advisory Board & Physics of Humanity Council
12. Bibliography

Introduction

For centuries, the heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom. At the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) Research Center, we are exploring the physiological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain, thereby influencing information processing, perceptions, emotions and health. We are asking questions such as: Why do people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other positive emotional states in the area of the heart and what are the physiological ramifications of these emotions? How do stress and different emotional states affect the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, the heart and brain? Over the years we have experimented with different psychological and physiological measures, but it was consistently heart rate variability, or heart rhythms, that stood out as the most dynamic and reflective of inner emotional states and stress. It became clear that negative emotions lead to increased disorder in the heart’s rhythms and in the autonomic nervous system, thereby adversely affecting the rest of the body. In contrast, positive emotions create increased harmony and coherence in heart rhythms and improve balance in the nervous system. The health implications are easy to understand: Disharmony in the nervous system leads to inefficiency and increased stress on the heart and other organs while harmonious rhythms are more efficient and less stressful to the body’s systems.

More intriguing are the dramatic positive changes that occur when techniques are applied that increase coherence in rhythmic patterns of heart rate variability. These include shifts in perception and the ability to reduce stress and deal more effectively with difficult situations. We observed that the heart was acting as though it had a mind of its own and was profoundly influencing the way we perceive and respond to the world. In essence, it appeared that the heart was affecting intelligence and awareness.

The answers to many of our original questions now provide a scientific basis to explain how and why the heart affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance and personal effectiveness. Our research and that of others indicate that the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex, self-organized information processing center with its own functional "brain" that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs, and ultimately determine the quality of life.

Compiled by Rollin McCraty, Mike Atkinson and Dana Tomasino. HeartMath Research Center, Institute of HeartMath, Publication No. 01-001. Boulder Creek, CA, 2001.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

HeartMath^®, Freeze-Frame^®, Heart Lock-In^®, Cut-Thru^®, and Inner Quality Management^® (IQM) are registered trademarks of the Institute of HeartMath. The emWave^® PC Emotional Management Enhancer (FFEME) is a trademark of Quantum Intech.

The Intelligent Heart

Some of the first modern psychophysiological researchers to examine the conversations between the heart and brain were John and Beatrice Lacey. During 20 years of research throughout the 1960s and ’70s, they observed that the heart communicates with the brain in ways that significantly affect how we perceive and react to the world.

A generation before the Laceys began their research, Walter Cannon had shown that changes in emotions are accompanied by predictable changes in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and digestion. In Cannon’s view, when we are "aroused," the mobilizing part of the nervous system (sympathetic) energizes us for fight or flight, and in more quiescent moments, the calming part of the nervous system (parasympathetic) cools us down. In this view, it was assumed that the autonomic nervous system and all of the physiological responses moved in concert with the brain’s response to a given stimulus. Presumably, our inner systems tooled up together when we were aroused and simmered down together when we were at rest, and the brain was in control of the entire process.

The Laceys noticed that this simple model only partially matched actual physiological behavior. As their research evolved, they found that the heart seemed to have its own peculiar logic that frequently diverged from the direction of the autonomic nervous system. The heart appeared to be sending meaningful messages to the brain that it not only understood, but obeyed. Even more intriguing was that it looked as though these messages could affect a person’s behavior. Shortly after this, neurophysiologists discovered a neural pathway and mechanism whereby input from the heart to the brain could "inhibit" or "facilitate" the brain’s electrical activity. Then in 1974, the French researchers Gahery and Vigier, working with cats, stimulated the vagus nerve (which carries many of the signals from the heart to the brain) and found that the brain’s electrical response was reduced to about half its normal rate. In summary, evidence suggested that the heart and nervous system were not simply following the brain’s directions, as Cannon had thought.

Neurocardiology: The Brain in the Heart

While the Laceys were doing their research in psychophysiology, a small group of cardiovascular researchers joined with a similar group of neurophysiologists to explore areas of mutual interest. This represented the beginning of the new discipline of neurocardiology, which has since provided critically important insights into the nervous system within the heart and how the brain and heart communicate with each other via the nervous system.

After extensive research, one of the early pioneers in neurocardiology, Dr. J. Andrew Armour, introduced the concept of a functional "heart brain" in 1991. His work revealed that the heart has a complex intrinsic nervous system that is sufficiently sophisticated to qualify as a "little brain" in its own right. The heart’s brain is an intricate network of several types of neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells like those found in the brain proper. Its elaborate circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain – to learn, remember, and even feel and sense. The recent book Neurocardiology, edited by Dr. Armour and Dr. Jeffrey Ardell, provides a comprehensive overview of the function of the heart’s intrinsic nervous system and the role of central and peripheral autonomic neurons in the regulation of cardiac function. The nervous system pathways between the heart and brain are shown in Figure 2.

The heart’s nervous system contains around 40,000 neurons, called sensory neurites, which detect circulating hormones and neurochemicals and sense heart rate and pressure information. Hormonal, chemical, rate and pressure information is translated into neurological impulses by the heart’s nervous system and sent from the heart to the brain through several afferent (flowing to the brain) pathways. It is also through these nerve pathways that pain signals and other feeling sensations are sent to the brain. These afferent nerve pathways enter the brain in an area called the medulla, located in the brain stem. The signals have a regulatory role over many of the autonomic nervous system signals that flow out of the brain to the heart, blood vessels and other glands and organs. However, they also cascade up into the higher centers of the brain, where they may influence perception, decision making and other cognitive processes.

Dr. Armour describes the brain and nervous system as a distributed parallel processing system consisting of separate but interacting groups of neuronal processing centers distributed throughout the body. The heart has its own intrinsic nervous system that operates and processes information independently of the brain or nervous system. This is what allows a heart transplant to work: Normally, the heart communicates with the brain via nerve fibers running through the vagus nerve and the spinal column. In a heart transplant, these nerve connections do not reconnect for an extended period of time, if at all; however, the transplanted heart is able to function in its new host through the capacity of its intact, intrinsic nervous system.

The Heart Brain

The intrinsic cardiac nervous system, or heart brain, is made up of complex ganglia, containing afferent (receiving) local circuit (interneurons) and efferent (transmitting) sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons. Multifunctional sensory neurites, which are distributed throughout the heart, are sensitive to many types of sensory input originating from within the heart itself. The intrinsic cardiac ganglia integrate messages from the brain and other processing centers throughout the body with information received from the cardiac sensory neurites. Once information has been processed by the heart’s intrinsic neurons, the appropriate signals are sent to the sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes as well as the muscles in the heart. Thus, under normal physiological conditions, the heart’s intrinsic nervous system plays an important role in much of the routine control of cardiac function, independent of the central nervous system. Dr. Armour and his colleagues have shown that the heart’s intrinsic nervous system is vital for the maintenance of cardiovascular stability and efficiency, and that without it, the heart cannot operate properly.

The Heart as a Hormonal Gland

Another component of the heart-brain communication system was provided by researchers studying the hormonal system. The heart was reclassified as an endocrine or hormonal gland, when in 1983 a hormone produced and released by the heart called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) was isolated. This hormone exerts its effects widely: on the blood vessels themselves, on the kidneys and the adrenal glands and on a large number of regulatory regions in the brain. Dr. Armour and his students also found that the heart contains a cell type known as "intrinsic cardiac adrenergic" (ICA) cells. These cells are classified as "adrenergic" because they synthesize and release catecholamines (norepinephrine and dopamine), neurotransmitters once thought to be produced only by neurons in the brain and ganglia outside the heart. More recently still, it was discovered that the heart also secretes oxytocin, commonly referred to as the "love" or "bonding hormone." Beyond its well-known functions in childbirth and lactation, recent evidence indicates that this hormone is also involved in cognition, tolerance, adaptation, complex sexual and maternal behaviors as well as in the learning of social cues and the establishment of enduring pair bonds. Remarkably, concentrations of oxytocin in the heart are as high as those found in the brain.

Had the complexity of the heart’s intrinsic nervous system and the extensive influence of its hormonal secretions been more widely understood by the scientific community while the Laceys were doing their research, their theories might have been accepted far earlier; however, their insight and experimentation played an important role in elucidating the basic physiological and psychological processes that connect mind and body. In 1977, Dr. Francis Waldropin, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, stated in a review article of the Laceys’ work that: "Their intricate and careful procedures, combined with their daring theories, have produced work that has stirred controversy as well as promise. In the long run, their research may tell us much about what makes each of us a whole person and may suggest techniques that can restore a distressed person to health."

Indeed, this prediction has come to pass. Doc Childre and the Institute of HeartMath have built upon the work of others such as the Laceys and Dr. Armour to develop practical interventions that incorporate the understanding that the heart profoundly affects perception, awareness and intelligence. This technology has now helped thousands of individuals from many walks of life lead more productive, healthy and fulfilling lives by learning to live more with heart and mind in synchrony, operating from a constructive synergy of the intelligence of both mind and heart.

The Mental and Emotional Systems

Dating back to the ancient Greeks, human think ing and feeling, or intellect and emotion, have been considered separate functions. These contrasting aspects of the soul, as the Greeks called them, have often been portrayed as being engaged in a constant battle for control of the human psyche. In Plato’s view, emotions were like wild horses that had to be reined in by the intellect, while Christian theology has long equated emotions with sins and temptations to be resisted by reason and willpower.

Of course, emotions are not always negative and do not always serve as antagonists to rational thought. Neurologist Antonio Damasio stresses the rationality of emotion in his book Descartes’ Error, where he emphasizes the importance of emotions in decision making. He points out that patients with brain damage in the areas of the brain that integrate the emotional and cognitive systems can no longer effectively function in the day-to-day world, even though their mental abilities are perfectly normal. In the recent bestselling book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman argues that the pervading view of human intelligence as essentially mind intellect is far too narrow, for it ignores a range of human capacities that bear equal if not greater weight in determining our successes in life. He builds a case for a largely overlooked domain of intelligence, termed "emotional intelligence," which is based on such qualities as self-awareness, motivation, altruism and compassion. According to Goleman, it is a high "EQ" (emotional quotient) as much or more than a high IQ that marks people who excel in the face of life’s challenges.

The latest research in neuroscience confirms that emotion and cognition can best be thought of as separate but interacting functions or systems, each with its unique intelligence. Our research is showing that the key to the successful integration of the mind and emotions lies in increasing the coherence (ordered, harmonious function) in both systems and bringing them into phase with one another. While two-way communication between the cognitive and emotional systems is hard-wired into the brain, the actual number of neural connections going from the emotional centers to the cognitive centers is greater than the number going the other way. This goes some way to explain the tremendous power of emotions, in contrast to thought alone. Once an emotion is experienced, it becomes a powerful motivator of future behaviors, affecting moment-to-moment actions, attitudes and long-term achievements. Emotions can easily bump mundane events out of awareness, but non-emotional forms of mental activity (like thoughts) do not so readily displace emotions from the mental landscape. Likewise, experience reminds us that the most pervasive thoughts – those least easily dismissed – are typically those fueled by the greatest intensity of emotion. Because emotions exert such a powerful influence on cognitive activity, at IHM we have discovered that intervening at the emotional level is often the most efficient way to initiate change in mental patterns and processes. Our research demonstrates that the application of tools and techniques designed to increase coherence in the emotional system can often bring the mind into greater coherence as well.

It is our experience that the degree of coherence between the mind and emotions can vary considerably. When they are out-of-phase, overall awareness is reduced. Conversely, when they are in-phase, awareness is expanded. This interaction affects us on a number of levels: Vision, listening abilities, reaction times, mental clarity, feeling states and sensitivities are all influenced by the degree of mental and emotional coherence experienced at any given moment.

Increasing Psychophysiological Coherence: The Role of the Heart

The results of research studies summarized in this overview, taken together, support the intriguing view that individuals can gain more conscious control over the process of creating increased coherence within and between the mental and emotional systems than might be commonly believed. This, in turn, can lead to greater physiological coherence, manifesting as more ordered and efficient function in the nervous, cardiovascular, hormonal and immune systems. We call the resulting state psychophysiological coherence, as it involves a high degree of balance, harmony and synchronization within and between cognitive, emotional and physiological processes. Research has shown that this state is associated with high performance, reduced stress, increased emotional stability and numerous health benefits. (The concept of coherence is discussed in further detail in the Entrainment, Coherence and Autonomic Balance section). At IHM, we have found that the heart plays a central role in the generation of emotional experience, and therefore, in the establishment of psychophysiological coherence. From a systems perspective, the human organism is truly a vast, multi-dimensional information network of communicating subsystems, in which mental processes, emotions, and physiological systems are inextricably intertwined. Whereas our perceptions and emotions were once believed to be dictated entirely by the brain’s responses to stimuli arising in our external environment, the current perspective more accurately describes perceptual and emotional experience as the composite of stimuli the brain receives from the external environment and the internal sensations or feedback transmitted to the brain from the bodily organs and systems. Thus, the heart, brain, nervous, hormonal and immune systems must all be considered fundamental components of the dynamic, interactive information network that determines our ongoing emotional experience.

Extensive work by eminent brain researcher and neurosurgeon, Dr. Karl Pribram, has helped advance the understanding of the emotional system. In Pribram’s model, past experience builds within us a set of familiar patterns, which are established and maintained in the neural networks. Inputs to the brain from both the external and internal environments contribute to the maintenance of these patterns. Within the body, many processes and interactions occurring at different functional levels provide constant rhythmic inputs with which the brain becomes familiar. These inputs range from the rhythmic activity of our heart, to our digestive, respiratory and reproductive rhythms, to the constant interplay of messenger molecules produced by the cells of our body.

These inputs to the brain, translated into neural and hormonal patterns, are continuously monitored by the brain and help organize our perception, feelings and behavior. Familiar input patterns from the external environment and from within the body are ultimately written into neural circuitry and form a stable backdrop, or reference pattern, against which new information or experiences are compared. According to this model, when an external or internal input is sufficiently different from the familiar reference pattern, this "mismatch" or departure from the familiar underlies the generation of feelings and emotions.

The background physiological patterns with which our brain and body grow familiar are created and reinforced through our experiences and the way we perceive the world. For example, a person living in an environment that continually triggers angry or fearful feelings is likely to become familiar with these feelings, and with their neural and hormonal correlates. In contrast, an individual whose experience is dominated by feelings of security, love and care will become "familiar" with the physiological patterns associated with these feelings.

In our internal environment many different organs and systems contribute to the patterns that ultimately determine our emotional experience. However, research has illuminated that the heart plays a particularly important role. The heart is the most powerful generator of rhythmic information patterns in the human body. As we saw earlier, it functions as sophisticated information encoding and processing center, and possesses a far more developed communication system with the brain than do most of the body’s major organs. With every beat, the heart not only pumps blood, but also transmits complex patterns of neurological, hormonal, pressure and electromagnetic information to the brain and through-out the body. As a critical nodal point in many of the body’s interacting systems, the heart is uniquely positioned as a powerful entry point into the communication network that connects body, mind, emotions and spirit.

Numerous experiments have now demonstrated that the messages the heart sends the brain affect our perceptions, mental processes, feeling states and performance in profound ways. Our research suggests that the heart communicates information relative to emotional state (as reflected by patterns in heart rate variability) to the cardiac center of the brain stem (medulla), which in turn feeds into the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus and the amygdala. These areas are directly connected to the base of the frontal lobes, which are critical for decision making and the integration of reason and feeling. The intralaminar nuclei send signals to the rest of the cortex to help synchronize cortical activity, thus providing a pathway and mechanism to explain how the heart’s rhythms can alter brainwave patterns and thereby modify brain function.

Our data indicate that when heart rhythm patterns are coherent, the neural information sent to the brain facilitates cortical function. This effect is often experienced as heightened mental clarity, improved decision making and increased creativity. Additionally, coherent input from the heart tends to facilitate the experience of positive feeling states. This may explain why most people associate love and other positive feelings with the heart and why many people actually "feel" or "sense" these emotions in the area of the heart. In this way, as will be explored further in the studies presented in this Overview, the heart is intimately involved in the generation of psychophysiological coherence.

Research has shown that the heart’s afferent neurological signals directly affect activity in the amygdala and associated nuclei, an important emotional processing center in the brain. The amygdala is the key brain center that coordinates behavioral, immunological and neuroendocrine responses to environmental threats. It also serves as the store-house of emotional memory within the brain. In assessing the environment, the amygdala compares incoming emotional signals with stored emotional memories. In this way, the amygdala makes instantaneous decisions about the threat level of incoming sensory information, and due to its extensive connections to the hypothalamus and other autonomic nervous system centers, is able to "hijack" the neural pathways activating the autonomic nervous system and emotional response before the higher brain centers receive the sensory information.

One of the functions of the amygdala is to organize what patterns become "familiar" to the brain. If the rhythm patterns generated by the heart are disordered and incoherent, especially in early life, the amygdala learns to expect disharmony as the familiar baseline; and thus we feel "at home" with incoherence, which can affect learning, creativity and emotional balance. In other words we feel "comfortable" only with internal incoherence, which in this case is really discomfort. On the basis of what has become familiar to the amygdala, the frontal cortex mediates decisions as to what constitutes appropriate behavior in any given situation. Thus, subconscious emotional memories and associated physiological patterns underlie and affect our perceptions, emotional reactions, thought processes and behavior. One of the research studies summarized in this Overview explains how we believe these emotional memory traces can be repatterned using heart-focused interventions so that coherence becomes the "familiar" and comfortable state.

In sum, from our current understanding of the elaborate feedback networks between the brain, the heart and the mental and emotional systems, it becomes clear that the age-old struggle between intellect and emotion will not be resolved by the mind gaining dominance over the emotions, but rather by increasing the harmonious balance between the two systems – a synthesis that provides greater access to our full range of intelligence.

Stress, Health and Performance

People have long been aware of the connection between stress, mental and emotional attitudes, physiological health and overall well-being. However, in recent years, a growing body of compelling evidence is bringing these crucial relationships to the forefront of the scientific arena. Scientific research now tells us plainly that anger, anxiety and worry significantly increase the risk of heart disease, including sudden cardiac death. Landmark long-term studies conducted by Dr. Hans Eysenck and colleagues at the University of London have shown that chronic unmanaged emotional stress is as much as six times more predictive of cancer and heart disease than cigarette smoking, cholesterol level or blood pressure, and much more responsive to intervention.

In order to better understand the interactions and relationships between thoughts, emotions, physiological and psychological wellness, an appealing research-based model is the performance-arousal curve. These curves help clarify the relationships between emotional arousal, performance (the ability to do what has to be done) and health.

Figure 3 shows the performance-arousal curves developed from Lewis’s observations of military training: some individuals have a higher potential for performance than others, but all decline when effort and stress carry them beyond their tolerance. Figure 4 illustrates a study of effort and stress experienced by soldiers in battle in World War II: The first stage of exhaustion on the curve is associated with hyper-reactivity, anxiety, sleep disorder, overbreathing and cardiovascular dysregulation. Today, there is a rapidly growing interest in preventing the individual from reaching this phase, known in sports medicine as "overtraining." If stressors persist beyond the first stage, the individual becomes drained of energy, stamina and coping resources and sinks to a lower level of performance. The symptoms of this "emotional exhaustion" stage are virtually the same as those seen in chronic fatigue; however, this condition can be described more accurately as a state of extreme homeostatic depletion from which the individual can recover with proper rehabilitation measures. Individuals who have reached this stage often exhibit depletion or exhaustion of the autonomic nervous system, which can be measured by analysis of heart rate variability (See Heart Rate Variability and Clinical Research sections).

Tolerance of stress varies among individuals. Those with higher tolerance curves can perform at higher levels for longer periods without generating homeostatic disorders. They are deemed "hardy" or "resilient," qualities developed through successful self-management of negative emotional reactions and adapting linked with a strong commitment to life’s goals, a sense of control over the outcome of life’s course, and an abundance of energy that makes it possible to enjoy the challenges of life. Those with lower curves are less resilient; they have a lesser capacity for coping and adapting, and a greater propensity to exhaustion and illness. However, even individuals with a higher tolerance will succumb to exhaustion and illness if their tolerance threshold is exceeded and they cross over the top of the curve.

The onset of exhaustion depends upon the interplay between the initial condition of one’s defenses and the magnitude and rate of the stressors that challenge one’s coping skills and adaptive capacity (Figure 5). Up to a point, regeneration can be achieved by rest and relaxation, but beyond that point the individual embarks on an enduring downhill course of decline in performance and health. In other words, the top of the curve represents the dividing line between healthy function and reversible fatigue on the upslope, and the self-perpetuating depletion of health and performance on the downslope.

The "intended" line acts as a reminder that maladaptive behavior is often adopted when people go "over the top." As the gap between actual ability and intended performance widens, they neglect the need for rest and tend towards increased negative mental and emotional inner turmoil, which further drives them downwards towards breakdown. Movement over the top of the curve into exhaustion and ill health can be due to both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic causes include high levels of anger, anxiety, tension, lack of self-management skills, restlessness, guilt, loneliness and inability to be satisfied by achievement.

External environmental stressors such as the acceleration of change in society can drive individuals beyond physiological tolerance. The working environment can also have a major impact on health. For example, Beale and Nethercott examined workers in the 2-year period between learning that their job security was threatened and actually losing their jobs. These workers evidenced a 150% increase in visits to the family doctor, a 70% increase in the number of episodes of illness, a 160% increase in the number of referrals to hospital outpatient departments and a 200% increase in the number of attendances at outpatient departments. Numerous other studies have also demonstrated that job dissatisfaction can predict heart attacks.

A growing body of compelling scientific evidence is demonstrating the link between mental and emotional attitudes, physiological health and long-term well-being.

• A Harvard Medical School Study of 1,623 heart attack survivors found that when subjects became angry during emotional conflicts, their risk of subsequent heart attacks was more than double that of those that remained calm.
  M. Mittleman et al. Circulation. 1995; 92(7)
• Men who complain of high anxiety are up to six times more likely than calmer men to suffer sudden cardiac death.
  I. Kawachi et al. Circulation. 1994; 89(5)
• A 20-year study of over 1,700 older men conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that worry about social conditions, health and personal finances all significantly increased the risk of coronary heart disease.
  L. Kubzansky et al. Circulation. 1997; 95(4)
• Over one-half of heart disease cases are not explained by the standard risk factors – such as high cholesterol, smoking or sedentary lifestyle.
  R. Rosenman. Integr Physiol Behav Sci. 1993; 28(1)
• An international study of 2,829 people between the ages of 55 and 85 found that individuals who reported the highest levels of personal "mastery" – feelings of control over life events – had a nearly 60%lower risk of death compared with those who felt relatively helpless in the face of life ’s challenges.
  B. Penninx et al. Am J Epidemiol. 1997; 146(6)
• According to a Mayo Clinic study of individuals with heart disease,psychological stress was the strongest predictor of future cardiac events,such as cardiac death, cardiac arrest and heart attacks.
  T. Allison et al. Mayo Clin Proc. 1995; 70(8)
• Three 10-year studies concluded that emotional stress was more predictive of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease than smoking;people who were unable to effectively manage their stress had a 40% higher death rate than non-stressed individuals.
  H. Eysenck. Br J Med Psychol. 1988; 61(Pt 1)
• A recent study of heart attack survivors showed that patients’ emotional state and relationships in the period after myocardial infarction are as important as the disease severity in determining their prognosis.
  S. Thomas et al. Am J Crit Care. 1997; 6(2)
• In a study of 5,716 middle-aged people,those with the highest self-regulation abilities were over 50 times more likely to be alive and without chronic disease 15 years later than those with the lowest self-regulation scores.
  R. Grossarth-Maticek & H. Eysenck. Person Individ Diff. 1995; 19(6)

Tools that Enhance Human Performance

With stress levels continuing to rise all over the world, people are becoming more conscious not only of the long-term effects of stress, but also of how unmanaged emotions compromise the quality of one’s day-to-day life, limiting mental clarity, productivity, adaptability to life’s challenges and enjoyment of its gifts.

At the same time, most of us have experienced how positive emotional states, such as appreciation and care, add a quality of buoyancy and coherent flow to life, significantly increasing our efficiency and effectiveness. Doc Childre, founder of the Institute of HeartMath, understood years ago that the key to enhancing human performance would be a simple, practical system that would help people achieve these more coherent inner states with greater continuity, even in the face of external stresses. Through many years of research, Childre devised what is now known as the HeartMath system: a set of practical techniques to help people transmute stress and negative emotions in the moment, improve performance and enrich the quality of life.

Core HeartMath Tools

Freeze-Frame

• Stops stress by shifting perception in the moment
• Arrests or prevents the physiological stress response

Heart Lock-In

• Promotes sustained states of psychophysiological coherence
• Establishes increased physiological efficiency, mental acuity and emotional stability as a new baseline

Cut-Thru

• Extinguishes recurring,,intrusive thought patterns and emotions (e.g. anxiety,depression,overwhelm)
• Reinforces more positive perceptions and efficient emotional responses

It is commonly believed we have little control over the mind or emotions. For example, neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, who studies brain circuits and the emotion of fear in animals, writes that:

"Emotions are things that happen to us rather than things we will to occur. Although people set up situations to modulate their emotions all the time – going to movies and amusement parks, having a tasty meal, consuming alcohol and other recreational drugs – in these situations, external events are simply arranged so that the stimuli that automatically trigger emotions will be present. We have little direct control over our emotional reactions. Anyone who has tried to fake an emotion, or who has been the recipient of a faked one, knows all too well the futility of the attempt. While conscious control over emotions is weak, emotions can flood consciousness." (Le Doux, 1996, p. 19)

While this is true for many people who have not learned how to train and develop their emotional systems, our research and experience show that the emotional system can be developed and brought into coherence. However, this requires tools and practice, in much the same way that it takes techniques and practice to learn and develop mental or athletic skills. The science underlying the HeartMath techniques involves an understanding of the human heart as a far more complex, self-organized and intelligent system than has generally been acknowledged.

As discussed in the preceding pages, the heart is intimately connected with our brain and emotional system; the "decisions" made within the heart can directly impact the way the brain perceives and processes information. Freeze-Frame, the most basic of the HeartMath techniques, in essence allows people to disengage from draining mental and emotional reactions in the moment by shifting their attention from the mind to the area around the heart and self-generating a sincere positive feeling state such as appreciation, love or care. This process prevents or reverses the body’s normal destructive stress response, and changes the bodily feedback sent to the brain, thus arresting physiological and psychological wear and tear. As a result of using Freeze-Frame, perception can shift markedly: individuals find they can think more clearly and often transform an inefficient, emotionally draining response into a proactive, creative one. With practice, this tool can be used effectively in less than one minute.

In addition to the Freeze-Frame technique, the effectiveness of several other core HeartMath tools is assessed in the research studies presented in this Overview. The Heart Lock-In technique promotes physical, mental and emotional regeneration. It enables people to "lock in" the positive feeling states associated with the heart in order to boost their energy, heighten peace and clarity and effectively retrain their physiology to sustain longer periods of coherent function. With consistent practice, the Heart Lock-In facilitates the establishment of new reference patterns promoting increased physiological efficiency, mental acuity and emotional stability as a new baseline or norm. The technique involves focusing one’s attention on the area around the heart and experiencing a sincere positive feeling state of love or appreciation. This process can be facilitated by music specifically designed to enhance mental and emotional balance (See Music Research section).

Cut-Thru is a tool designed to address recurring negative emotional reactions and patterns, sometimes referred to as negative "thought loops" or "emotional memories." Just as physical movements (such as walking, driving, and so on) become "stereotyped" and automatic through repetition, so do mental and emotional responses and attitudes. Often, these old mental and emotional patterns continue to be triggered even though they are outdated and inappropriate for present circumstances. The Cut-Thru technique helps people shift their typical "in the moment" response to stressors from negative to neutral or even positive. We propose that this process facilitates the restructuring of mental and emotional circuitry, reinforcing more positive perceptions and efficient emotional responses.

While the HeartMath tools are intentionally designed to be easily learned and used in day-to-day life, our experience working with people of diverse ages, cultures, educational backgrounds and professions suggests that these interventions often facilitate profound shifts in perception, emotion and awareness. Moreover, extensive laboratory research performed at IHM has shown that the physiological changes accompanying such shifts are dramatic. The research studies overviewed in the section titled Entrainment, Coherence and Autonomic Balance begin to map out many of these effects, beginning with the positive shifts that occur in the autonomic nervous system. It is demonstrated that the experience of sincere positive feeling states produces increased coherence in the rhythmic patterns generated by the heart. Through the various pathways outlined in the Introduction, this information is communicated throughout the body, and has the effect of driving other important physiological systems, including the brain, into increased coherence as well. The results summarized in the Head-Heart Interactions section provide additional insight into the ways in which the heart’s rhythms influence the brain, ultimately affecting cognitive performance. Results help explain many of the positive effects experienced by people who practice the HeartMath tools – from greater physical vitality, to clearer thought processes, heightened intuition and creativity, to increased emotional balance and capacity to meet life’s challenges with fluidity and grace.

The physiological and psychological outcomes of the HeartMath interventions are further explored in studies presented in the Emotional Balance and Health and Music Research sections. In the HeartMath Technology in Business section, case studies show how these benefits can also lead to organizationally-relevant gains. The HeartMath in Education section describes how HeartMath tools have been applied in elementary, middle school, high school and university settings to enhance learning, as well as promote psychosocial and behavioral improvements. Finally, the Clinical Research section includes studies demonstrating how the interventions have been used in diverse patient populations to facilitate health improvements and enhance quality of life.

To facilitate a more in-depth understanding of this research, we first provide a brief background on heart rate variability, a key measure of autonomic function and physiological coherence that is used throughout our work.