Scientists at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the United States have found that patients with personality traits such as sarcasticity, cynicism, resentment, and irritability are more likely to die of heart attacks. The mortal danger of negative emotions is reported by the Science Times.
The study involved 2321 heart attack survivors. Their average age was 67, and 68 percent of the volunteers were men. Experts measured the level of hostility, which takes into account the frequency of positive and negative affects and is used to diagnose behavior disorders. It is estimated that 57 percent of the participants frequently displayed hostile behavior.
It turned out that frequent negative affects were a predictor of death from a second heart attack, regardless of gender, education, marital status, the presence of hypertension and diabetes, and smoking. In addition, sarcasticity, cynicism, and other similar personality traits are common among patients with acute coronary syndrome. However, it is not yet known exactly how the level of hostility affects the body.
