We’ve all felt our hearts race during tense situations or exciting moments, and we’ve all used our thumping chests as proof of a good workout. So we know firsthand that our heart is tuned in to our mental, emotional, and physical states.
These states are communicated to our heart by our autonomic nervous system which regulates many organs and unconscious processes in our body. It can be divided into two branches that have opposite effects on the heart: your sympathetic nervous system kicks in during stress (like exercise) and ramps your heart rate up. Your parasympathetic nervous system slows your heart down when it’s time to relax and share a meal with the family.
