Middle-aged men who feel hopeless or think of themselves as failures may develop narrowing of the arteries faster than their more optimistic counterparts, researchers report. People who expressed high levels of despair had a 20 per cent greater increase over four years in the condition known as atherosclerosis, which leads to heart attacks and strokes, according to a report in the August issue of the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis And Vascular Biology.
"This is the same magnitude of increased risk that one sees in comparing a pack-a-day smoker to a non-smoker," says lead author Susan Everson.
"People need to recognize this sense of giving up that many people feel has strong cardiovascular consequences," says Everson, an associate research scientist at the Human Population Laboratory of the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, California. "Steps should be taken to try to change their situation so they gain hope or become more optimistic."
Be an idiot.
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