Spark Post: #5

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and whom the Hippocratic Oath was named and recited by all medical doctors, had a simple health theory.  That health and emotions came from the heart, and that is where treatment should start for maladies of mood.  Of course, Hippocrates lived 2400 years ago and could not have known that a naturally occurring hormone is produced in the heart.  During exercise, increased heart rate releases this hormone, called Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP), into the blood stream.  Once in the brain it blunts stress and anxiety and helps to regulate mood.