A bad attitude leads people into an unhealthy lifestyle

By Abigail Mellier, | Lifestyle | 0 Comments

A bad attitude leads people into an unhealthy lifestyle, which raises their risk of heart disease.
Depression and anger are known to be risk factors for a heart attack. It may be that your emotions have a direct effect on the heart and circulation - perhaps through stress hormones. Or is it that negative feelings lead you into unhealthy behaviour, such as giving up on exercise or continuing to smoke?

A new study suggests that the latter idea, at least, has some truth in it. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found that women with the most symptoms of depression are 2.5 times more likely to smoke, compared to those with the fewest symptoms. What’s more, depressed people are less likely to exercise or be physically fit than happy women. And those who were openly angry had the lowest level of high density lipoprotein (‘good’ cholesterol). And they were most likely to be overweight or even obese.

Meanwhile, those who scored high on cynical hostility - a consistent bitterness and lack of trust towards others - were also high on typical heart disease risk factors, such as smoking, poor physical fitness and bad cholesterol profile. It’s not known where the cause and effect relationship lies here, however. Do negative emotions increase unhealthy behaviours, or is it the other way round? It’s important to find this out with further research but, in the meantime, dealing with anger and depression could be a powerful way of improving your physical health.