Men's Health portrayed the life of a man who believed his heart attack was caused primarily by grief. Acclaimed mountaineer Conrad Anker and his team trekked up Tibet's 26,335-foot Shisha Pangma for a specific mission—to retrieve the frozen body of his best friend, Alex Lowe, who had died in an avalanche. Anker had been with Lowe and had seen him being swept to his death. Once the body was found, Anker carried the body down the mountain, "a wrenching burden that weighed on his soul." Anker said, "Going back up there and seeing everything was super emotional. I was stressed, and I felt my heart.

The Men's Health writer went into detail:

"I felt my heart." What man hasn't at some point in his life? [You can also insert examples that apply to women.] When we go on a first date, take a knee to propose, approach the lectern to make a speech in public, or hear of a loved one's death, our hearts talk to us. And we talk back. This is why for centuries, before we even understood how it does its primary job of pumping blood, the heart has been a powerful symbol of many things: love, emotion, intuition, conviction ("I believe in my heart"), and truth ("the heart of the matter").

Recent studies show that our emotions can directly affect our heart health. That may be why, for example, more people seem to have heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week; cold Mondays are even more dangerous. People who have experienced a sudden, acute trauma, such as the death of someone close, can suffer a physical change in the heart. When Anker said his friend's death touched his heart, it probably did.