Our heart is an important organ in our body and something we must take care of. Healthy eating and exercise can keep it in good condition but is it still possible to die from being sad and upset - or what we might call 'a broken heart'? 6 Minute English discusses the subject and hears from an expert who explains if this can really happen.

This week's question:

The first human-to-human heart transplant took place in 1967. But what country was it in? Was it:

a) South Africa

b) USA

c) China

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary

nuanced

small but important things that need to be considered

bereavement

sadness we feel when someone close to us dies

passed away

a more gentle way of saying ‘died’

muddle through

get to the end of a difficult situation somehow. Not always by making the right decisions but in the end, getting there

time-poor

not having enough free time

prioritising

deciding how important different things are

Transcript

Note: This is not a word for word transcript?

Neil

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

Rob

And hello, I'm Rob.

Neil

Today’s topic is about our health and in particular our hearts. How’s your heart, Rob?

Rob

Er, fine, I hope, as far as I know.

Neil

Do you take care of it?

Rob

Well, not my heart specifically, but my health in general, yes. I like to exercise regularly and I try to eat healthy foods.

Neil

So that cheeseburger I saw you eating just now was a healthy cheeseburger?

Rob

Fake news! You’re making that up, Neil! Don’t believe him, listeners. It would break my heart if people thought I ate junk food.

Neil

Now that’s an interesting expression. ‘It would break my heart.’ We say that when we talk about things that upset us. Of course, we don’t really mean that our heart is actually breaking.

Rob

However, you do sometimes hear stories about people who they say ‘died from a broken heart’.

Neil

That is today’s topic - can you die from a broken heart? First though, the quiz question. The first human-to-human heart transplant took place in 1967. But what country was it in? Was it:

a)???South Africa??

b)???USA

c)???China

What do you think, Rob?

Rob

Well, I think it is definitely a) South Africa.

Neil

OK, we’ll give you the answer at the end of the programme. Now back to the subject of broken hearts and if you can die from one. Dr Nikki Stamp is an Australian heart surgeon. She’s written a book, helpfully called ‘Can You Die From A Broken Heart?’ She was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour and was asked that very question. Does she think it is possible?

Dr Nikki Stamp

Yes, short answer is yes. It’s a little bit more?nuanced?than that. For most of us when we have a broken heart whether it’s?bereavement?or a relationship coming to an end we will be fine. We’ll?muddle our way?through it, we’ll take not so good care of ourselves but we’ll get there. However the physical effects still happen and it is a big stress on your emotions obviously but also on your body.

Neil

So she says 'yes' it is possible to die from a broken heart. But?Rob, is it as clear and simple as that?

Rob

Well, no. She said it was a bit more?nuanced. This means it’s not a simple relationship. A situation that is?nuanced?has small but possibly important differences.

Neil

She mentioned a couple of situations where we say that people could have a broken heart, didn’t she?

Rob

Yes, she talked about times of great unhappiness and emotional stress. One of the ones she mentioned was?bereavement.?Bereavement?is the intense feeling of sadness we get when someone close to us dies.

Neil

The other situation where we say people are broken-hearted is, as Dr Stamp said, when a relationship comes to an end. So if your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband wife or lover decides they no longer want to be with you.

Rob

So these are times when we use the expression to be broken-hearted. But thankfully, they don’t usually lead to death. She said that usually we?muddle through. This expression means that we get through our sadness. Maybe slowly and maybe we don’t think clearly and don’t make the right decisions – but in the end, we mend our broken hearts.

Neil

For some people, a few people though, the emotional stress does have an effect on the body, it does lead to physical symptoms and sometimes, sadly, death. Here’s Dr Stamp again. Which expression does she use instead of the word ‘died’?

Dr Nikki Stamp

And then for some people, you will die of a broken heart. We do tend to see that in elderly people who you know, like a few weeks after grandma?passed away, grandad?passed away?not long after.

Rob

She says that dying of a broken heart can happen with older people and she used the expression?passed away?rather than the word ‘died’.

Neil

Dying from a broken heart may be quite rare, but heart problems still exist for many, particularly those who are very overweight. This is a problem in many parts of the world. But why is that?

Rob

Dr Stamp says that we are increasingly?time-poor. We have less and less free time, as we are spending more time working.

Neil

This leads to our not doing as much exercise and eating more convenience food rather than making our own food from healthy ingredients.

Rob

The doctor says that we are not?prioritising?our health as we should be.?Prioritising?means deciding how important different things are. So we are not thinking of our health as being as important as we should.

Neil

Right, well we’re quite?time-poor?in this programme, so it’s time for the answer to our quiz. In which country was the first human-to-human heart transplant carried out? The choices were South Africa, USA or China. What did you say, Rob?

Rob

Yeah, I was sure it was South Africa.

Neil

Well, you were right to be sure because the answer is South Africa. Congratulations if you got that right. Now just time to recap today’s vocabulary.

Rob

Yes, we started off with?nuanced. This adjective means 'something is not as simple as it might seem. There may be small but important things that need to be considered'.

Neil

Then there was?bereavement. The sadness we feel when someone close to us has?passed away.

Rob

Passed away?was one of our other words, and it’s a more gentle way of saying ‘died’.

Neil

We also had the phrasal verb?muddle through. This expression means 'to get to the end of a difficult situation somehow. Not always by making the right decisions but in the end, getting there'.

Rob

Being?time-poor?was the expression for not having enough free time.

Neil

And finally?prioritising?was the noun for deciding how important different things are. Well that’s all from 6 Minute English today. Don’t break our hearts, do join us again, but in the meantime you can find us in all the usual places: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and of course our website bbclearningenglish.com, where you can find all kinds of audio programmes, videos, activities and quizzes to help you improve your English! Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Rob

Bye!