Human heart has a mind of its own,

scientists say
By SIRAJ WAHAB
Published: Sep 29, 2010 23:16 Updated: Sep 29, 2010
23:36
AL-HASA: If you don’t think that the human heart has
the capacity to think, think again. At least that is
what leading cardiologists who are gathered in Al-Hasa
for an international conference on cardiac sciences
are saying.
“There is a brain within our hearts,” said Dr.
Abdullah A. Abdulgader, director of the Prince Sultan
Cardiac Center in Al-Hasa. “This might come as a
pleasant surprise to many, but here is a fact proven
by the world‟s widely recognized heart specialists.”
Abdulgader quoted two leading names in the field, Dr.
Rollin McCraty of California's HeartMath Institute and
Jeffrey Ardell, professor of pharmacology and vice
chair for research at the Quillen College of Medicine
in Tennessee.
Abdulgader said they presented their research on
Wednesday while delivering their papers at the
conference. “What they have revealed is that there are
neurons in our heart similar to the ones in our brain,
and the existence of neurons in our heart has led to
the creation of a whole new area called
neurocardiology,” he said.
“In Arabic this concept is being called „al-muqh al-
qalbi.‟ This is not hearsay. This has been proved
though scientific experiments in the lab. These
neurons are real. We have done this in histology and
these neurons of the heart are something you can touch
and see.”
Abdulgader said there are thousands and thousands of
neurons in our heart. “The new research will have far-
reaching results. So far, it was believed that the
heart is nothing but a pumping machine that purifies
blood. All focus of the scientific community was on
the mind. That will change with new research. This
indicates that heart is the key organ and not the
brain.”
He said people in earlier eras believed that the
spirit and the soul of a person was in the heart, but
in the absence of any empirical data this could not be
accepted by the scientific community. “Now we know
that because of these neurons our heart has a capacity
to think. These neurons are like a wire that is
connected to the brain. Studies indicate that some of
these neurons are going directly to the brain without
any intermediary. They are going from very important
sites in the heart to very strategic locations in the
brain,” Abdulgader said.
So the new research again proves what was presented
during the second day of the conference. “That a
person should not be taken off a ventilator until and
unless the heart stops beating.”
If the experts are right, the next time someone says
he is speaking from the heart, perhaps you should take
it literally instead of figuratively.
“These neurons are giving orders to the brain, which
then leads to personality development and decision
making,” Abdulgader said. “What has also been revealed
is that the heart is sending more signals to the brain
than vice versa. So you know who is the leader in our
body.”