The heart is our most important organ and perhaps our most mysterious. Every day it pumps 9000 litres of blood and beats around 100, 000 times. But the heart is more than just a pump. In all major human cultures, it is seen as the source of love, sympathy, joy, courage, strength and wisdom. Why is this so?Having witnessed the extraordinary complexity and unpredictability of human hearts in the operating theatre – each one individual in its make-up, like a fingerprint – heart surgeon Reinhard Friedl went on a search for answers.He examined closely the latest findings in neurocardiology and psychocardiology, and in The Beat of Life he shares his discoveries. In the tradition of Giulia Enders' Gut and Norman Doidge's The Brain That Changes Itself, he uses riveting personal stories to illustrate the complex relationship between the heart, the brain and the psyche. The Beat of Life ends with a plea: that we recognise the heart's wisdom and adopt a more heart-centred way of living, which will lead to greater health.

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Yes, you can access The Beat of Life by Reinhard Friedl,Shirley Seul, Gert Reifarth in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Medicine & Biostatistics. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Year

Print ISBN

eBook ISBN

Topic

Subtopic

INDEX

A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking) 218

adrenal glands 79–80, 153

adrenaline 79–80, 153, 177, 195, 259

Alexander, Eben (Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife) 6, 160

American Heart Association 240

amygdala 103, 227

anaesthetic 40, 45, 70, 170–1, 202, 259

anaesthetist 4, 31, 39, 99, 144, 146, 254

Anahata (Sanskrit) 119

angina pectoris 4, 11, 103

antibiotic treatment 54

anticoagulants 39, 52

antidepressants 103–4, 109, 203

antiseptic 65

aorta 6, 8, 27–8, 30, 31–7, 64, 139, 144, 162, 256, 258

aorta descendens (descending aorta) 142–3

aortic arch 37, 142

aortic clamp 34–6, 38

aortic valve 32, 35

aphrodisiacs 195–6

apoplexy 103

Aristotle 4, 74

arrhythmia 4–5, 11, 61, 75, 200–1, 204, 208–9, 234

arteria subclavia (subclavian artery) 31, 142–3

arteries 7–8, 22, 24, 31–2, 35, 37, 61–2, 78, 143–4, 187, 191, 224, 253 see also brain arteries; coronary arteries; lung arteries

arteriosclerosis 61, 103, 108

artery calcification (plaque) 61

artificial heart 2, 4, 51–2, 252–7 see also heart transplants; ‘total artificial heart’; ventricular assist device (VAD)

artificial heart valve 54–5

...

Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Revealing the Heart
The Six-Cylinder Bio-Turbine
Heart on the Table
The Bleeding Heart
One Heart after Another
Chimeras of the Heart
The Colourful Neuroshow
Heart Tone
Wisdom from the Heart
Hearts in Sync
The Heart in the Incubator
What the Heart Can Feel
Danse Macabre
The Heart in the Eyes
Loving
The Lonely Heart
The Big Picture
Heart Consciousness
Heart Encounter
Farewell to the Artificial Heart
Homo cor
Acknowledgements
Endnotes
Index
Back Cover

About this book

Frequently asked questions

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Table of contents