STOP BEING grumpy and disagreeable if you want a long life.
People who are generally pleasant may enjoy a lower risk of heart attack and stroke compared to their more antagonistic neighbours, according to a new study.
The poor state of the economy might be getting you down but don't let it make you competitive, aggressive and quick to anger. It will leave you more likely to experience cardiac problems, according to the study published this morning in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers from the US National Institute on Aging studied 5,614 Italians from four villages on the island of Sardinia. They matched personality traits up against a known risk factor for heart attack and stroke – the thickness of their neck arteries.
The more competitive and disagreeable the person, as revealed by a battery of personality tests, the thicker the carotid arteries in the neck, the study found.
“People who tend to be competitive and more willing to fight for their own self interest have thicker arterial walls, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr Angelina Sutin, lead author of the study.
She and colleagues found that those in particular who were manipulative and quick to express anger – typically found in the bottom 10 per cent in terms of general agreeableness – had a 40 per cent increased risk for this negative change in the arteries.
The team screened subjects ranging in age from 14 to 94 years and 58 per cent of the total were women. They found that being a grouch was bad for your heart health no matter what your age or sex.
While men tended to have more thickening of the artery walls, antagonistic women, “tended to close the gap” with the men, Dr Sutin said. She also found that antagonism had a much stronger association with arterial thickness in women.
Equally, while thickening of the arteries was a sign of age, young people with antagonistic traits already had thickening.
The findings might be useful in deciding who might benefit most from undertaking anger management, Dr Sutin said, considering it was the least agreeable individuals who faced the greatest need for an improved approach to life.
“People may learn to control their anger and learn ways to express anger in more socially acceptable ways,” she said.
Grumps please take note.