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The symptoms of a certain heart condition may seem familiar.
Your heart rate picks up, your chest feels heavy, and your face reddens. You become clumsy, your knees grow weak, and you can’t speak properly. If the condition is severe, you can’t even think clearly or concentrate.
Could this horrible, crippling condition actually be... love sickness? When you fall in love, your body chemistry—including your heart—actually changes. The same is true of all emotions; they originate in the very core of the brain, but we feel them in the heart.
▲ In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by the great American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a murderer discovers that his elderly victim is “all heart.” The killer says, “There came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound... It was the beating of the old man’s heart... It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant... I thought the heart must burst.” He kills the man and hides the body under the floor. Police officers arrive, and the killer keeps his cool at first, until he hears a sound. “Such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton... It grew louder, louder—louder!” Could the sound be the old man’s heart? We’re not telling—giving away the ending would spoil a perfectly great horror story.
◀ Romeo and Juliet are the heroes of William Shakespeare’s play of the same title. They just might be the two most famous lovebirds in literature. Juliet is just 13, and Romeo’s not much older. Their families are feuding—which means they’re sworn enemies—so the teenagers get married in secret. It’s a first love and deep love for both, and it lasts until death “does them part.” Unfortunately, death does so shortly after the wedding.
Anxious
Relaxed
▲ Are you a Type A or a Type B personality? Type A people are usually aggressive, tense, and competitive, and they like to take charge and run things. Type B people are more relaxed and easygoing, and they rarely get angry. Guess which type suffers more heart attacks?
◀ In fairy tales, true love is never tragic. Cinderella and Prince Charming fall in love at first sight, and they live happily ever after.
Think Piece!
When someone you love moves away, does “absence make the heart grow fonder”? (That means, does your love increase while you’re apart?) Or is it more like “out of sight, out of mind”? (You quickly forget people when they aren’t around.) Which saying seems more true to you?
◀ Maria and Tony from West Side Story are like Romeo and Juliet, but they live in 1950s New York City. The two teenagers fall deeply in love immediately. Maria is Puerto Rican, while Tony is not. He gets killed in a gang fight, but Maria goes on to sing again.
▲ Roman leader Mark Antony and Egyptian queen Cleopatra were real people, but their love was legendary. Mark Antony fell in love the first time he saw Cleopatra. Later, after losing a battle, he killed himself. Cleopatra heard the bad news and committed suicide by the poisonous bite of a snake.
◀ Polygraphs (lie detector tests) are not foolproof. But when they do work, it’s because emotions have changed a person’s body in predictable ways. When people lie, they feel anxious or agitated. On the outside, liars may look relaxed, but inside, they can’t slow down a racing heart and quickened breathing. A polygraph machine detects and records these changes. The technician can look for other signs: sweating, bumbling speech, shifty eye movements, and more.
Fearful
Angry
▲ How do you feel when your “blood boils”? Have you ever been “scared stiff”? Anger and fear have similar effects on your body, because you need extra energy for self-defense, running away, or the power to overcome an opponent. Your body provides a rush of adrenaline, a chemical that makes your heart speed up. That makes you breathe faster and sends extra oxygen to your muscles. Right away, you’re ready for action, so bring it on! But as soon as the adrenaline wears out, you do too, and your heart and breathing slow down.
◀ How old do you have to be to fall in love? There’s no exact age, but when kids experience love, it’s called “puppy love.” On the other hand, “first love” describes the first time someone falls in love with another person. Finally, there’s “true love,” which is thought of as a deep and pure love that doesn’t go away.
Check It Out!
In what sport does love mean zero?
Tennis. It comes from the French word oeuf, which means “egg.” The roundness of an egg suggests a zero. Maybe you’ve heard the expression “the big goose egg,” another way of saying zero.
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