Description
Book SynopsisWhen actress Debbie Reynolds died a day after her beloved daughter, Carrie Fisher, the world diagnosed it as 'heartbreak'. But what's the evidence? Does emotional upheaval affect the heart? Can love, or chocolate, really heal our heart problems? And why do we know so much about heart attacks in men, when they are more fatal in women? Heart and lung surgeon Dr Nikki Stamp takes us into the operating theatre, explaining what she sees in patients with heart complications and how a life-saving transplant works. Stamp fell in the love with the heart as a child and continues to be fascinated by its workings and the whole-of-life experiences that affect it. Rich with anecdotes, and insights for maintaining heart health, Can You Die of a Broken Heart? is a blockbuster from a uniquely positioned young specialist.
Trade Review'It is a rare thing to find a surgeon who can write and who is so clearly in love with her subject. It helps that the subject of Dr Nikki Stamp's passion is that wonderful and yet still mysterious organ, the human heart. Dr Stamp writes about the heart with real verve and insight, addressing fascinating questions, like "can you die of a broken heart?", while telling moving human stories drawn from her own experience as a cardio thoracic surgeon.' Dr Michael Mosley
Table of ContentsIntroduction: What is it about the heart?
1.Can you die of a broken heart?
2.Stressed-out hearts
3.'New' hearts: transplants and mechanical hearts
4.The medical mysteries of a woman's heart
5.Can love heal?
6.Feeding your heart
7.Exercise: getting that heart pumping
8.Red wine, dark chocolate and superfoods
9.Depression: can a heart be blue?
10.Sleepy hearts
11.Family affairs of the heart
12.How to talk about your heart
13. The heart's journey: where we've come from and where we are going
