Hearts and minds

SCIENCE IS reinforcing the poets and songwriters in this season of love, announcing in prestigious journals that the heart can break and the heart can mend.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, writing in The New England Journal of Medicine last week, reported on what they have dubbed ''broken heart syndrome." It is caused by the sudden emotional stress of losing a loved one, having a heated argument, dreading a diagnosis, being involved in an accident, or experiencing anything else that's a jolt to the emotions.

That jolt can temporarily stun the heart of an otherwise healthy person, causing it to pump more slowly. While often confused with a heart attack because symptoms include chest pain and shortness of breath, the malady causes no permanent damage, and researchers say that sufferers recover in a couple of weeks.

A stunned ventricle may well be more resilient than a bruised psyche. But no matter how frightening, piercing, and all-consuming the initial pain, the angst of a broken heart -- medical or metaphorical -- does heal.

There may be new growth, too. Writing in last week's issue of the journal Nature, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, announced the discovery of cardiac progenitor cells, which can create heart muscle cells. The find suggests that damaged cardiac tissue might one day be able to regenerate -- something once considered akin to science fiction.

The emotional wounds of love and loss can feel like black holes that will never lead to anything positive -- and yet, with time, they can prove to be transforming lessons, redirecting a person's life onto broader, brighter pathways that regenerate self-esteem.

The happy lover celebrating this St. Valentine's Day, secure in a comfortable relationship, might look back on all the unworkable liaisons that led to a better understanding of his or her heart. The emotions are most likely no longer in hurricane mode, for the brain and soul have tempered what can be a blind and willful pilot.

The happy lover is ''heart healthy," as the phrase goes on the cereal boxes, and maybe ''heart smart," balancing past and present, lab coats and Cupid, loss and renewal, and whispering to wisdom: Be Mine!