Cholesterol and Beyond: How Emotional Factors Affect Your Heart
For many years, the “Type A” personality–always in a hurry, quick to anger, and highly competitive–was touted as a principal contributor to heart attacks. But as research became more common in this area, studies refined the behavioral profile of potential heart attack victims, and the Type A personality did not consistently predict the development of heart disease.
Dr. Redford Williams, A Duke University cardiologist discovered that a cynical distrust of others, hostility as well as the overt expression of cynicism, expressive in behavior characterized as aggressive is responsible for more deaths related to coronary artery disease. In his book, “Anger Kills,” he wrote,”Hostility flares like a beacon, a risk factor that needs to be tempered.”
An essential component of health is our ability to acknowledge that unyielding anger is a toxic trait with damaging effects. It is also significant to recognize that it can be changed with an intention to change and helpful behavioral approaches. A study conducted in the US, Canada and Israel, “The Short-Term Effects of Hostility-Reduction Intervention on Male Coronary Heart Disease Patients,” was published in Health Psychology (July 1999 evaluated an approach focusing on minimizing reducing hostility in patients with heart disease. The study determined that those who reduced their level of hostility, experienced dramatically lower blood pressures.
Still the effects of hostility are manifold. One study conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 1972, found that, in individuals age 50 and younger, unhappiness was the greatest predictor of heart disease and heart attacks. In his book, Williams connects hostility to unhappiness. He cites a study, “Cynical Hostility at Home and Work: Psychosocial Vulnerability Across Domains,” conducted by Timothy Smith, a University of Utah researcher and his colleagues and published in the Journal of Research in Personality (December 1988), which found that college students, who score high on a hostility questionnaire, a part of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), a standard psychological test, reported more hassles and negative life events, along with less social support. Williams also points out that hostile people had more marital problems and conflicts in their families.
Hostility often leads to isolation, another significant contributor to the development of coronary artery disease. Several studies have informed us of that. And hostility leads to another heart disease risk factor: isolation.
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