Fabulous news: Sarcasm linked to heart attacks
‘Find healthy way to manage stress’
IT might feel good to get something off your chest with a withering put-down or an impatient comment.
These traits, however, can be bad for your health, warn researchers.
Heart attack survivors who displayed hostility with sarcasm, cynicism, resentment, impatience or irritability were at much greater risk of dying of a second attack within two years.
This could be because the emotional state of being consistently negative puts a strain on their health, according to a US study.
Those who are hostile to others are also less likely to look after their own wellbeing and more likely to smoke, drink and have poor lifestyle and diet. Academics tracked 2,321 heart attack survivors, measuring their hostility at the beginning of the study using a personality test.
After two years, their survival rates were compared to these scores. The team at the University of Tennessee found that hostility could be accurately used to predict a patient’s chance of dying of another heart attack.
They said character can affect the heart through behavioural and psychological mechanisms.
‘Hostile individuals have increased clotting times, higher adrenaline levels, above normal cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and increased cardiac reactivity,’ warned the study.
‘These known inflammatory factors may initiate cardiac events and increase poor clinical outrence comes.’ Study author Tracey Vitori said: ‘Hostility is a personality trait that includes being sarcastic, cynical, resentful, impatient or irritable.
‘It’s not just a one-off occurbut characterises how a person interacts with people.
‘We know that taking control of lifestyle habits improves the outlook for heart attack patients and our study suggests that improving hostile behaviours could also be a positive move.’
Philippa Hobson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, described the report in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing as ‘interesting’.
She added: ‘A heart attack is life-changing and it’s common to feel angry after you’ve experienced one. There’s no doubt that finding healthy ways to manage stress and feeling calmer will have a positive impact. Try doing something active like going for a walk or getting some fresh air when you’re feeling stressed.’
Previous research has found being optimistic aided cardiovascular health by reducing stress hormones, pulse rate and blood pressure. Those with a sunny disposition also eat better, do more exercise and are less likely to drink or smoke.
Scientists also say general mood alters the levels of harmful and beneficial hormones in the body.