does the heart really have anything to do with love?
By mama_bear
@mama_bear (1118)
Canada
September 17, 2009 5:30pm CST
mylotters, i am curious as to what you all think of this. i personally believe that it does not, which begs the question, why the heart. as in my heart is broken, so and so broke my heart. i don't get why this particular organ is referred to when referring to matters of love. can anyone enlighten me. i am a scientist and realist. i know that when it come to love and such related matters, it is all about the chemicals and perception and feelings i guess. how does the heart factor into this. i mean i know that the heart races when one is around the object of their affection or the heart gives the feeling of having skipped a beat. could this be the reason why? please, please enlighten me mylotters. i know that when one is experiencing hurt caused by a loved one it may at times feel like they have been stabbed in the heart and the blood pooling at the feet.
2 people like this
9 responses
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
18 Sep 09
Mama Bear, I have no idea whatever as to WHY we refer to the heart in terms of love and emotion, but I'll give my impression of a possible reason.
The heart is in many aspects, the CENTRE of our being. "The life of the flesh is in the blood" and the heart pumps the blood through our entire body, keeping it clean and circulating. If the heart stops, we stop: we die.
Therefore, talking of loving with our WHOLE HEART, would be the same as loving with our WHOLE BEING - with the very CORE or CENTRE of our life.
I also agree with what others have said: at times of strong emotion, our heart responds by beating faster or skipping a beat, but I believe it more refers to the centre of our being, or (since we die if it stops) our EVERYTHING!
1 person likes this
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
19 Sep 09
i totally agree with loving someone with your whole being and the heart being used as a measure of this due to its importance in this great computer that is the human body.
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
17 Sep 09
I think that it has to do with how we feel when we think about someone that we love. You mentioned "our heart feels like it skipped a beat" or it races. When we have feelings of extreme stress, anxiety or loss, then our chest can become tight, it might hurt to breath or we might have trouble breathing, and we might actually feel pain in the area of our hearts. It can feel similar to a heart-attack, but it obviously isn't one. I think that's why they associate love with the heart, because a lot of times that is where we "feel" it.
1 person likes this
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
17 Sep 09
ha ha yeah in general for me the heart racing, hot cold feeling is usually accompanied by the desire to puke. thanks purplealabaster, that does make a weird kind of sense. i am loving people's different takes on this.
1 person likes this
@lynnemg (4529)
• United States
18 Sep 09
WHile at work, either today or yesterday, I really cannot remember which day, I heard on the television that they have found that people who are heart-broken are 6 times more likely to have a heart attack than those who are in a happy relationship. Intersting isn't it?
1 person likes this
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
19 Sep 09
yeah, it makes sense though because stress brings on a heart attack or high blood pressure. and falling out of love can be pretty stressful. i did not fall out of love but me and a loved one were seperated and still are due to circumstances beyond our control. i remember that i got pretty sick shortly after the seperation. i guess that is where the term heartsick may come from.
@coolcoder (2018)
• United States
17 Sep 09
To say something like "I love you with all my heart" is just that--a saying. If I'm not mistaken on this, centuries ago, people used to believe that the spleen and the intestines were where love resided (at the very least, people believed that the spleen harbored something; maybe not love, but something else).
I probably just did a horrible job at trying to explain. 
I know what I want to say, but my brain's running away with me. lol
I know what I want to say, but my brain's running away with me. lol1 person likes this
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
17 Sep 09
ha ha ha so i guess it became one of those force of habit deals where something is said often enough it just becomes the norm....? makes sense.
@fruitcakeliz (2641)
• United States
17 Sep 09
Here's a way a scientist's brain might be able to see it a little clearer. Generally, in times of great distress and high emotions, your pulse races, your breathing quickens..and often times your chest will feel as though it is resctricting..so in essence..it feels as though these feelings are emanating from your chest...where your heart resides.
1 person likes this
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
17 Sep 09
hmmmm yeah that makes sense too. there is that surge in the chest when one is angry or annoyed or even hurt. i know that when i am hurt i also get that hot cold feeling and the chest does constrict, like someone has a vice grip round my heart.
@gOzaru (20)
• Indonesia
18 Sep 09
Hi mama_bear,
I'm William.
I have experienced what you told.
It is very hurt when the one you love broke your heart.
I had it once. When the girl I love actually didn't like me.
I made a date with another girl. But suddenly I felt hurt in my heart. It is as if someone stabbed my heart organ. I checked my blood pressure at that time. And it is normal. So what is going on?
I think it is true that feelings have connection to organ. I don't know why but it seemed that heart (organ) could keep memories. I heard a true story that a patient who received a transplanted heart would have changed in behaviour expecially to what he/she used to likes. It turn 180 degree.
I dont know about you. But it is really hurt just as you say... The next day I saw the girl I love began to respond me. I think that she realized that she has feelings for me too.
GBU,
William
1 person likes this
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
18 Sep 09
isn't it weird how when all is going well with a loved one, the heart soars. then when they are mad at you and not talking to you it an affect your whole existence. then the moment they love you again all is well.
@x0xpinkyx0x (673)
• Brazil
18 Sep 09
The heart only has to do with love is when it is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. Essentially, the heart's main function as you know is to supply oxygenated blood to the organs of the body and take unoxygnated blood to the lungs to be oxygenated (via pulmonary artery). The heart and love do however have a relation. When you are in love typically you get excited and your sympathertic nervous system takes over and has various effects on the body.
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
19 Sep 09
that is so very true. you know i love that everyone is coming up with various suggestions both scientific and otherwise, thank you so much for sharing :)
@prinzcy (32322)
• Malaysia
18 Sep 09
It is just a metaphor. There's nothing to do with your real heart. And an addiction to this, your heart is not in the form of love shape either. So when we broke our heart, our real heart is unaffected. The real one is a muscle. The broken one is use to describe your emotion upon breaking up.
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
19 Sep 09
ha ha ha yes i love that breakdown, the heart shape thing makes me laugh too ha ha. who ever came up with that particular design, because you really have to use your imagination order to see the heart like that.
@mama_bear (1118)
• Canada
17 Sep 09
yeah so it is all brain and emotions, not related to the organ itself
@nigguhjoe (2)
•
18 Sep 09
well what yes i do agree it is a organ but yet then what is a soul and how come when your in love you soul links with your soul mate or am i mistaken here if there heart is not the chamber where the soul stays captured where would you think the soul lies?
