New scientific research emphasizes the profound interconnectedness of the heart and the brain. As it turns out, every heartbeat influences cognitive functions and emotional state within milliseconds. This close link provides a key explanation for the high co-occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, such as arterial hypertension, with mental health disorders, specifically depression and anxiety disorders.
The study authors propose a conceptual framework of “Brain-Body States,” which operates on different time scales and describes a dynamic system:
- Microstates: These are short-term states corresponding to immediate and rapid emotional responses, such as joy or anger.
- Meso States: These are relatively longer states associated with phenomena like acute or chronic stress.
- Macrostates: These are long-term states that underlie chronic pathologies, including mental disorders and cardiovascular diseases.
Arno Villringer, Director of the Department of Neurology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, notes that “Mental illnesses always involve a cardiovascular component that may not yet have manifest clinical symptoms, and vice versa. Accordingly, the high co-occurrence of mental and cardiovascular diseases indicates their fundamental interrelationship.”
Although the precise etiological factors for this high co-occurrence are not fully established (for example, psychological reactions to a cardiovascular disease diagnosis and unhealthy lifestyle as a risk factor are both considered causes), researchers assert that any physical process—be it a heartbeat, pressure variation, or metabolic change—is automatically accompanied by a mental or psychological process, indicating their inseparable connection.
These findings suggest that treatment strategies must integrate cardiovascular, neurological, and psychological factors to achieve more effective health management. Consequently, both aspects must be constantly taken into account in prevention and therapy, even if initially only one of them dominates the clinical picture.
The researchers add that besides the heart and vascular system, other organs and systems, particularly the immune system, also continuously interact with the brain and the psyche.
