Too much happiness could trigger a heart attack, a new study has found. Scientists have long known that extreme emotional distress can cause a potentially fatal weakening of the heart.
But new research has discovered that the same can occur from sheer joy, leading scientists to coin it ‘happy heart syndrome’.
The findings are published in the European Heart Journal.
Takotsubo syndrome, or TTS, was diagnosed in the 1990s and typically occurs after upsetting episodes such as the death of a spouse or parent, the breakdown of a relationship, or being diagnosed with cancer.
But the new research came after researchers analysed data from 1,750 patients diagnosed with TTS in nine different countries.
Co-author Dr Christian Templin, also from University Hospital Zurich, said: “Perhaps both happy and sad life events, while inherently distinct, share,final common pathways in the central nervous system output, which ultimately lead to TTS.”
