It's been proven time and time again that the link between mind and body is a powerful force often overlooked in the crush of daily existence.
I'll go a step further and say our individual spirit that entered with the initial division of a single cell and accelerated after three weeks with the mysterious electrical spark that ignited our first heartbeat is closely intertwined in this association.
So it wasn't a total surprise to read a story by Associated Press medical writer Carla K. Johnson that concluded that sudden financial losses in middle age may shorten one's life by as much a 50 percent.
The story quotes a medical study of some 9,000 people by Northwestern University Medical School, which found that middle-aged Americans who experienced a significant and unexpected financial loss were more likely to die in the years following "wealth shock" than those who escaped such fate.
Researchers said the findings reinforced previous knowledge about the links between physical and financial health. Earlier studies concluded lower incomes and rising income inequality were linked with chronic diseases and lower life expectancy.
Lindsay Pool, who headed the university's research team, was quoted saying, "This is really a story about everybody. Policymakers should pay attention." She said added stress, delays in health care, substance abuse and suicides may contribute to the results.
While the numbers of those dying after enduring "wealth shock" told their own story, the news account said the Northwestern study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association after analyzing two decades of data from the Health and Retirement Study, couldn't conclusively prove a cause-and-effect connection.
The Health and Retirement Study checks in alternating years with a large group in their 50s and 60s to keep track of who has passed away. What I found most interesting is that about 25 percent of those under study had endured wealth shock, defined as a financial loss of at least 75 percent in net worth over two years; the average loss was $100,000. and might include a drop in the value of investments to loss of a home. Larger national economic problems didn't affect the impact from a personal wealth shock; it made no difference if many others were floating in the same boat.
Women, Johnson reported, were more likely to have wealth shock, but the increase in risk of death was about the same as males. And even after researchers adjusted for health status, unemployment or marital status, the connection existed between a financial crisis late in life and departing this world.
We can rest assured our heart, mind and spirit are indeed connected.
Similar studies over the years have found an even stronger connection between the death of someone who lost a spouse after a long marriage or committed relationship.
A story in the Toledo Blade a few years ago reported on the medical phenomenon known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, named by the Japanese for a condition in which a traumatizing incident, as in profound loss, results in weakened heart tissue. "It's also called stress cardiomyopathy--more simply, 'Broken Heart Syndrome', the story reported.
The Blade quoted Dr. William Colyer, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine for the University of Toledo Medical Center: "It is very real. It was first described in 1991, but it's really been in the last 10 years or so that people have become more aware of this condition."
"Such stories have made headlines across the nation," the Blade story read. "... [M]edia outlets in Lubbock, Texas, reported that longtime couple Wanda and Frank Hodges died 12 hours apart. The next day was their 64th wedding anniversary."
A study by London's St. George's University determined indeed humans can succumb to a broken heart because bereavement increases the risk of a stroke or heart attack by nearly double following the death of one's partner.
The Mayo Clinic describes the physical effects of this syndrome as sometimes bringing on sudden chest pains, which can make the afflicted believe they are experiencing a heart attack. "In broken heart syndrome, there's a temporary disruption of your heart's normal pumping function in one area of the heart. The remainder of the heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions. Broken heart syndrome may be caused by the heart's reaction to a surge of stress hormones," the clinic reports.
Doctors may also refer to the condition as apical ballooning syndrome. Symptoms are treatable, and the condition can reverse itself.
The problem as I see it, even with that hopeful possibility, is while a physical problem within the human heart can be addressed and even overcome through medical care, it cannot fill the deep, often devastating mental and spiritual void created by great loss.
Regrettable loss of whatever the precious lost object might be, from finances to dearest loved ones, often affects us far beyond the reach of even the finest medical treatment.
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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 05/27/2018