How Your Heart Helps Rewire Your Brain

When I was a preteen, I helped organize what I can only describe as a see-saw-a-thon, a fundraiser built entirely around staying on a see-saw for as long as possible, to raise money for our local humane society. I don't remember whose idea it was anymore, only that something in my chest lit up the whole time we were planning it. I've chased that exact feeling ever since, through years of volunteering with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, CASA, and Crisis Text Line. It's never once felt like an obligation. It's felt like fuel.

I didn't have language for it as a kid, but I've come to believe that feeling wasn't just in my head. It was in my heart too, literally, and the two were talking to each other the whole time.

The Science Behind the Feeling

Recent research is starting to back up what people like me have felt for years without being able to prove it. A 2023 study out of UNC-Chapel Hill, the University of Pennsylvania, and Purdue University, published in the journal Science, used MRI data from more than 40,000 subjects to examine the connection between heart and brain health. The findings were striking, heart MRI traits shared genetic influences with brain conditions, including psychiatric disorders and depression. In plain terms, some of the same genes that shape your heart also shape your brain, and the two systems are far more entangled than we used to think.

A separate Danish study of over 10,000 adults found a strong link between congenital heart disease and a higher rate of dementia later in life, adding more weight to the idea that heart health and brain health aren't separate stories.

Here's where I want to be honest about what the research actually shows, versus what I personally believe. The studies above establish a real, documented connection, genetic and physiological, between heart health and brain health, including mental health conditions like depression. What they don't yet prove is whether positive emotions like love and joy directly benefit brain health the same way. That part is still ahead of the research. I believe it's true, based on everything I've felt in my own life and witnessed in the people I work with, but I want to be clear that belief and proof aren't the same thing yet. I'm hopeful the science catches up.

What does seem well supported already is this: memory and cognitive function appear to be linked to heart activity itself, not just heart disease. Researchers have measured what's called the heart-evoked potential, essentially the brain's response to each heartbeat, and found it connected to cognitive processing. Whatever else remains unproven, the heart and brain are clearly in constant conversation, and that alone is worth taking seriously.

3 Ways to Nurture Emotional Health

I could point you toward mindfulness, meditation, positive affirmations, and exercise, and those are all genuinely good places to start. But I'd rather share a few less obvious ones, drawn from what's actually worked in my own life.

Nature Therapy. I cherish spending time in nature and can feel a shift in my energy almost immediately when I do. Forest bathing, a slow walk on the beach, anything that puts you in contact with something larger and quieter than your to-do list. Nature's stillness has a way of settling the nervous system in a way very little else can.

Creative Expression. Are you a crafty or artsy person? I love anything that uses my hands, building something, painting, or anything that uses my voice, like making up a new song on the spot. Creative expression is a genuine outlet, not just a hobby, and it tends to lead to a kind of self-understanding that talking alone doesn't reach.

Acts of Kindness. This one goes all the way back to that see-saw-a-thon. Volunteering and small acts of kindness have done more for my emotional health over the years than almost anything else I've tried. Helping someone else has a way of expanding your own sense of purpose at the exact moments you need it most.

I hope this has been valuable to you, and that it inspires you to prioritize connecting with your own big, beautiful heart, especially on the days you're feeling sad, doubtful, or low on confidence. There's always something you can do to shift the energy and feel a little better. Explore what actually works for you. We're all different, so if something that works for me doesn't land the same way for you, take that as an invitation to keep exploring, not a reason to get discouraged.