Despair Affects Artery Health (Or…, the Importance of Hope and Optimism)
Article published in The Toronto Star, September 27, 1997, p. L7
Dallas (AP)
– 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, Calif. “Steps should be taken to try to change their situation so they gain hope or become more optimistic.”
Earlier studies have associated hopelessness with heart disease, heart attack and death from heart disease. This latest study, however, sought to examine the influence of hopelessness earlier in the disease process, while the arteries were in the process of narrowing.
The findings, while not unexpected, are still noteworthy, says Dr. Marty Sullivan, a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Centre.
“This is one of the first studies of humans that has looked at the actual atherosclerosis process and has shown a strong relationship,” he says. “I am not surprised that we have now demonstrated that psychosocial factors may play a role.
Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease in which fat, cholesterol, cellular waste products and calcium collect in the bolood vessels, reducing their ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients.
Exactly how hopelessness speeds up artery narrowing isn’t yet clear, Everson says. Depression, anxiety and opther types of psychological stress can affect the body’s central nervous system, influencing the production of stress hormones, she notes.