HEART DISEASE: THE BASELESS HYPOTHESIS! DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR

About twenty years ago I had sent a working hypothesis (a guesswork or conjecture) to a medical journal. In that hypothesis I had suggested stress as a root cause; in essential or idiopathic hypertension and ischemic heart diseases (apart from many others).

The hypothesis was rejected as baseless.

Today I wish to reiterate that hypothesis; in this article for free download; so that everyone can read and decide if it makes sense or not.
The hypothesis is:

The cardiovascular dysfunction; manifested in essential hypertensive pathophysiology and/or ischemic pathophysiology; is due to acute or chronic stress; either symptomatic (associated with; acute or chronic; restlessness, anxiety, conflicts, suffocation, fear, insecurity) or asymptomatic and without any symptoms. The underlying mechanisms of this stress could be:

a) Excess of adrenergic and nor adrenergic response or associated with tonic or phasic arteriolar spasms, increase in myocardial pumping, increase in all the catabolic products including those, which are produced by direct microscopic and molecular damage caused by increase in the catabolism/anabolism ratio!

b) Excess of simultaneous adrenergic, noradrenergic, cholinergic, non adrenergic, non noradrenergic; and non-cholinergic response; leading to disruption of the synergy and/or complementarity (e.g. actions on GIT smooth muscles and sphincters) , and phased out opposing actions (+ ve and – ve inotrophic, bathmotropic, dromotropic and chronotropic actions on heart) and exhausting one another

c) Metabolic changes corresponding to catabolic excess and/or anabolic exhaustion in terms of increases in the fatty acids, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, amino acids

d) Constriction of the vessels of kidneys resulting in increase in rennin angiotensisn activity and subsequent increase in blood pressure

e) The root cause of spasms in coronary (heart) blood vessels is also acute and/or chronic over activity of sympathetic nervous system; due to acute or chronic stress.

f) The root cause of atherosclerosis; is the increased friction and mechanical damage and roughening of the constricting vessels; especially arterioles due to over activity of sympathetic nervous system.

It is agreed that some people would be genetically more prone to stress and subsequent ischemic heart disease and blood pressure. But that does not disprove or even create a doubt about the hypothesis of stress as a root cause of bad lipids, spasms and atherosclerosis and subsequent ischemic heart disease and essential (idiopathic) hypertension.

g) One can read the pathophysiology text books and then think about confirming or ruling out (through statistical surveys, clinical studies, experimental work etc.) this hypothesis.

h) However; till then; we can apply common sense and reason out; how stress and its inappropriate management can disturb the metabolic, endocrine, neuroendocrine, autonomic nervous and central nervous activities and influence various tissues including heart vessels and other blood vessels in body.

i) It is important to remember that the damaging stress is often subconscious; and is present even during sleep and embryonic life and hence goes unnoticed.

The conclusion of this brief hypothesis; is that the first line preventive as well as healing measure (treatment) for ischemic heart disease and essential hypertension (and several other diseases mentioned in my book on Total Stress Management); is the practice of NAMASMARAN, which is the core of Total Stress Management!