September 10th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Research
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How could it have happened?
He was strong; do you remember how he could get uphill? He was fit; can you ever recall seeing him out of shape? His blood pressure was perfect, low even. He bragged about his exemplary cholesterol levels.
He was lean and mean.
Wait a minute…what was that about being mean?
When an endurance athlete in middle age is felled by a sudden heart attack, these questions always arise. It’s mysterious, as the idea holds that exercise and fitness should inoculate one from heart disease. But it does not.
There is more to the story of heart attacks than just the big five: genetics, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
August 21st, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
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I saw a prescient story that linked antagonistic personality traits and cardiovascular risk. It was simply impossible to ignore. Low hanging fruit, no doubt.
The article highlights an NIH-sponsored study [published in the August 16th journal Hypertension] that looked at the effects of antagonistic traits — agreeableness, per se — on heart health. Yes, you read it right — agreeableness. To quantify agreeableness, the researchers used a personality questionnaire which included six traits: Trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, and my favorite…tender-mindedness.
Your hypothesis is probably right: People who were distrustful, cynical, manipulative, self-centered, and quick to express anger fared worse. But please don’t dismiss this as just another mundane study proclaiming the risks of an angry personality. The specifics of the findings and their implications really hit hard. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*