Is our health care system lacking heart? I think most people would agree, and that sadly the trend seems to be towards colder and even more clinical approaches. Although I agree that health and science is largely scientific, we can't completely ignore the fact that we're emotional beings. Most medical professionals are trained to suppress their feelings and just focus on the facts, and in some cases that's a good thing but not always. The best doctors, the ones you really remember, are the ones who find a way to keep that sensitive side and really connect with their patients. How many doctors have you met that had that quality? They're few and far between.

Peter Houghton has an artificial heart, and although he's grateful for the technology that saved his life he's sad for what he lost: the ability to experience emotions the same way he used to.

He's the first person to receive a permanent transplant of the Jarvik 2000 left ventricular assist device, and he's really struggled with the reality of living with it for the rest of his life. Among other issues like facing depression, he finds himself more logical and less intuitive than he used to be. He's less interested in forming relationships and emotional bonds with those around him (such as his two grandchildren) and he doesn't know what to do about it.

In short, Peter Houghton is a cyborg -- and he feels like one. Unfortunately he's alone in that there is little known about how artificial hearts affect the human body and the human experience. He's coming to better terms with it everyday, although it's not easy. In his words: "Better than being dead, I think. Three days out of five."

How sad.

Hypertension is common today, and nearly 1/3 of adults suffering from the condition. Though medication can help to bring your blood pressure back in line, according to Dr. Andrew Weil, there are other natural methods you can try as well that may eventually allow you to reduce or stop your medication altogether (under the supervision of your doctor, of course). Some of his suggestions include:

• losing 10% of your total weight
• limiting caffeine and alcohol
• eliminating cigarettes
• reducing salt and processed foods

Dr. Weil also believes that relaxation techniques, including yoga and breathing exercises, can help calm the involuntary nervous system. Read more about relaxation techniques for controlling blood pressure here at Mayo Clinic.

It seems road rage may be more dangerous than just the risk of a traffic accident or blown temper -- a new study shows that hostility, anger, and depression can significantly increase a person's chances of developing heart disease or suffering a heart attack. It seems that psychological factors, like anger, can push up inflammation levels over time, which have been proven to contribute to heart health issues. Now scientists will begin evaluating whether interventions like meditation and anger management can decrease the risk. So be ready angry heart patients, you may have therapy sessions and anger management in their futures!

When it comes to taking care of your heart and protecting it from disease, there's no time like the present. Whatever your age, the things you do now will affect you down the road -- it's up to you whether these effects are positive or negative. Courtesy of the Embrace Your Heart blog, here are six things you should be doing, or should start doing, to take care of your health, and life:

1) Get informed: talk to your doctor. Find out what illnesses you're at risk for, and take steps to prevent them. Get screened for things -- it might seem scary but you have a better chance of beating them early on than down the road
2) Get active: Incorporate some sort of activity into your life every day. Big or small -- it doesn't matter. Just get out there and get moving
3) Eat better: start moving away from processed, high-fat, refined foods. Choose fresh foods and avoid too much sugar. Drink lots of water. Put good things in your body.
4) Take a few deep breaths: Stop stressing so much. Take a few minutes out of your day to just be.
5) Be honest: It's all too easy to keep buying bigger clothes -- at some point, we have to admit that we're overweight and under-nourished. Face up to your unhealthy habits and unhealthy body -- it's the first step to change.
6) But at the same time, don't be so hard on yourself: you're human. You make mistakes. Yeah, you probably shouldn't have eaten that entire cake, but today's a new day, and a new chance to make a difference to your health.

Do you feel that you are unfairly treated in some aspect of your life? Maybe your mother is unusually hard on you, or you don't get paid as much as you should. Maybe you just weren't dealt the best hand in life. But if this sounds like you, I have another blow for you ... you might be more susceptible to a heart attack, according to this study. It has to do with stress, and there's no denying that someone who feels wronged is more on edge than someone who is carefree and happy-go-lucky.

I minored in Psychology in college, and there one of the undercurrents of many of my classes was the role that perception of fairness played in so many aspects of ones life, from confidence to mood to satisfaction. So I'm not surprised it can play a role in your health too. It's a good reason to appreciate the good in your life, as hard as it may seem sometimes.

In so many diet articles, it says not to limit any foods, or you will crave them and binge on them later on. Who writes these things - skinny people who can eat just one cookie? I would love to include potato chips in my diet, but I have to eat the whole bag. No, really, I HAVE to eat the whole bag.

In the sane and healthy part of my brain, I think that not restricting any foods is probably a very good idea. It appeals to that part of me that wants to be balanced in all things. The trouble is, I tend to fall over when I balance too much. The problem lies in the whole issue of cravings. Our bodies are designed to send out signals that let us know when we are deficient in something, but we've probably lost the ability to recognize it. What could our bodies possibly need, that they would crave fast-food burgers? Cravings are psychological. Sight and smell play a big part in our cravings, as does our inner two-year-old. We want to parent and soothe our inner child, instead of kicking its whiny butt. Is not the whole point of growing older to get rid of childish behaviors?

I believe the route to go is to say, "I am addicted to ____, and even one will make me fall off the wagon," and then never eat it again. It may seem harsh, but we are probably not hard enough on ourselves. We believe that if we cannot have the thing we crave, then we will die, explode, waste away, or not get enough love.

But we will not. We will grow, be disciplined, and be healthier.

I usually tune in to CNN to find out what's going on in the world, not to find out what's going in inside my body. But, there are always exceptions. For example, I find the BBC news to sometimes be a more accurate/less filtered account of world events. By the same token, CNN does have some valuable health info. to offer up every once in a while. Case in point, a list of "9 Secrets to a Healthier Heart" published on the news giant's website.

Simple, easy-to-follow and just plain good, sound advice. That's what I like most about this list. Rather than reiterate all of the 9 secrets, I have instead decided to paraphrase a few I found to be most helpful:

#4) Try to consume more pomegranate juice. In addition to aiding in preventing hardening of the arteries, lowering bad cholesterol, pomegranate juice may also reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Try to find a 100% version of the juice, such s the very popular Pom -- which can be found in most supermarkets.

#6) Pointing to a research study conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, the article sites the importance of laughter. Its healing power, if you will. Apparently, people who watched comedy films such as "There's Something About Mary" had better blood flow than those who watched dramas like "Saving Private Ryan."

#8) Relaxed, control breathing can help lower your blood pressure. The article suggests trying to take 10 breaths per minute rather than the average 16 to 19. By doing so, you can slow your body's excretion of salt, which, in turn, will help keep your blood pressure down.

As I said, these are simple and effective strategies to help keep your heart healthy. To read all 9, click HERE.

I do my best with this blog to focus on the more positive things in the cardio world: exercise, weight management, healthier living, etc. Quite frankly, I'm not so keen on writing about anything negative, although I realize that getting the word out about that information is sometimes just as important. With that being the case, I felt the need to mention an article I came across examining heart attack-related depression.

It appears as though people who for the first times in their lives experience clinical depression, and do so after suffering a heart attack, are at greater risk for another heart attack than are people who don't get depressed after suffering a heart attack. The research also uncovered evidence to suggest that these post-heart attack, depression bout sufferers, are more likely to face another heart attack than people who experienced depression prior to their heat attacks. It appears as though the critical component is whether or not the person is experiencing depression for the first time in their lives, based on the conclusions that the research pointed to.

The study that lead to this discovery was conducted in the Netherlands at the University Medical Center Gronigen. Referred to as the DepreMI Study, researchers observed 468 patients for about 2 and a half years after they were hospitalized for suffering a heart attack. They found that of the individuals being studied, those who experiened first-time depression after being hospitalized experienced more fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular emergencies than did those who either did not experience any depression or had suffered depression at one time or another before in their lives. These findings were ostensibly quite shocking to the researchers, and lead them to stress the importance of antidepressive treatment for patients immediately after their physical recovery from heart attack.

The latest reports have us informed of the links between obesity and sleep loss -- which could end up being a factor for heart disease later in life. Sleep is something everyone needs to realize is much more important than we give credit to -- especially women who are particularly prone to heart disease later in life, without appropriate lifestyle prevention measures.

Lo and behold, over half of American mothers don't get enough sleep. A recent survey revealed full-time working moms get the least sleep -- six hours on a good night. Stay-at-home moms only fare about 10 percent better -- 48 percent reported inadequate amounts of sleep. Stress can lead to insomnia, especially if moms lying in bed unable to sleep are obsessing over money, time, tasks, and family issues.

Moms surveyed said they felt they would be better parents -- and happier people -- if they got more rest. Experts recommend moms follow a strict sleep routine for themselves -- hopefully just as they would for their own child. Try going to bed at a regularly scheduled time, read yourself a story and tuck yourself into your calm, comfortable sleeping place.

Heavy drinking can contribute greatly to heart disease, as well as many other ills over time. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this interesting method of treatment, the facts are intriguing. Did you know that in the 50's and 60's, pioneering psychiatrists experimented with treating alcoholism with a single dose of the hallucinogenic drug LSD, in a safe and nurturing, yet clinical environment?

The records also show that the small group of individuals who underwent this particular treatment still have not taken a drink to this day. Published in the journal Social History of Medicine, the study was founded on the theory that LSD could produce a similar effect of hitting rock bottom in the bottle -- but without the pain of delirium tremens. For the full-fascinating-report, click here.

A recent study reports that sleep training can help improve childrens sleeping habits -- especially for the ones who whine or stall with snack, drink or story requests at bed-time. While we learn many of our adulthood health patterns early on in childhood and adolescence -- couldn't we, as adults with terrible sleeping patterns benefit from a little sleep training ourselves? Lack of adequate sleep has been linked to higher stress and appetites, both of which over time can contribute to the development of heart disease. Let's see if the strategies could work for us, too.

When waking up in the middle of the night, try self-soothing yourself back to sleep. Try quiet bedtime rituals, like a warm bath or a good book -- at the same time every night in a room that's just for sleeping (or at least turn off the TV). And while the extinction method may not seem applicable -- where parents refrain from responding to a childs temper tantrums when the sheets come up and the lights go out -- perhaps there is a chatty, anxious little person in your head that needs to be ignored so you can rest peacefully.

Did you know that breastfeeding can reduce the risk of heart disease in your babys future? According to recent research, breastfed babies are calmer, gain less weight as they grow -- preventing obesity -- and experience lower blood pressure and cholesterol as adults -- all of which are protective against heart disease.

Researchers were also curious whether breastfeeding would raise a childs IQ, although their results show little connection. However, I would be willing to bet that breastfeeding a baby -- which fosters a certain loving attachment that is not quite the same as bottle-feeding -- would potentially raise a childs level of emotional intelligence. In this day and age, who couldn't use just a little more of that?

Tea is especially beneficial in returning stress hormone levels back to normal. Even after stress-inducing activities, men who drank four cups of black tea daily for six weeks in the new study experienced a quicker relief from the damaging stress hormone cortisol. Long-term exposure to cortisol has been linked with the onset of coronary heart disease.

The importance isn't so much that black tea prevents reaction to stress -- because it doesn't turn you into a zombie, after all -- but that it helps greatly in recovery from stress. At the end of the six-week study, the men in the tea-drinking group were asked to complete stressful activities such as preparing and delivering a presentation in only five minutes. These men experienced the same spike in blood pressure and cortisol as the non-tea drinkers -- however, 50 minutes after the exercise the tea drinkers stress hormone levels fell nearly 50 percent, while the non-tea drinkers had only experienced a 27 percent drop in cortisol.

David Lynch, the surrealist American director of such works as Twin Peaks and Dune, has been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) for 30 years -- claiming the practice has helped rid him of anger and boosted his creativity. Letting go of anger has been documented as reducing the risk of heart disease later in life.

Perhaps healthy Mr. Lynch is onto something. He is so dedicated to the practice that he set up the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, which provides funding to teachers to promote TM in schools. Lynch, like many other TM-ers, believes that a daily practice will help promote world peace by finding it within first. Simple and effortless, it only takes 20 minutes -- and the benefits seem endless.

Previous research has shown the benefits of TM for heart patients and healthy individuals alike. TM reduces blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and relieves stress -- which prolonged exposure to can cause adverse effects on the central nervous system and heart. TM is also recommended as a helpful aid in the cessation of smoking, heavy drinking and other unhealthy habits.