Seven Thoughts that Can Kill You

Our personalities are important because besides influencing our social circles, they can do more than that. The physical health can be affected by our personalities and temperaments. Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina stated that the idea that the personalities can affect the health conditions has been debated for a very long time.

They have just recently begun to understand the impact personality can have on one’s health. The mental factors are strongly related to our mind, and they can influence it in ways we can not imagine. You should know that not every character type can cause damage; in fact some of them can enhance your life.

7. Being a cynic can put a heavy toll on your health. The cynics are the people who are suspicious and mistrustful of others, and because of that, the scientists say that they are hostile. Unfortunately hostility has been related with the heart diseases, and the people who are hostile have higher chances of developing such a disease. Boyle said that the cynics are not hot-headed, but they are more likely to read other people’s behaviors and customs from various hostile motives. He performed studies on more than 300 Vietnam veterans who were all healthy. He found out that the ones who were cynics were a 25 percent more likely to develop a heart condition in the future.

Boyle believes that the reason why the cynics have higher chances of developing the heart attacks is because they are more stressed. Stress can cause the spike of the immune-system protein called C3, which has been linked with diabetes and many other diseases. The people who more hostile had this protein increase whereas the people who were calmer and who weren’t hostile had the protein at its regular levels.

6. The lack of meaning can be a killer. More than 1,200 elderly participated at a study, and they were all healthy at the beginning of it. The study revealed the fact that the people who had a low purpose in life had higher chances of dying over the course of the study than the people who had high purposes in life. The results showed that the meaning in life is very important regardless of such factors as race, education and sex, along with level of neuroticism and depression. Patricia Boyle of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago, who was the leader of the study, stated that the people who had a high purpose in life would engage in many activities which would keep them healthy.

Because of that, their stress levels are reduced, their immune systems are increased, and their heart is in a better condition. She also stated that the people who gave up on life, meaning the ones who no longer care about their daily activities, and who no longer make plans, have higher chances of dying.

5. The people who are constantly anxious and worried, meaning the ones who are highly neurotic, have higher chances of developing depression. Because of that they have higher chances of dying than the people who are calmer and who respond to events in a calmer manner. A study which spread over the course of 30 years was done on more than 1,800 men, and it revealed the fact that the ones who were anxious in most of times, smoked more often than the ones who were calmer.

They resorted to smoking as a way of eliminating stress, but instead of making things better for them, smoking actually made things worse, as they had higher chances of dying. The anxiety might be reduced by smoking over a short period of time, but the risk is not worth taking, as in the long run it will cause more damage than good.

4. The lack of self-control can be damaging and potentially deadly as well. More than 20 studies have been performed on this topic and more than 9,000 people have participated to it. The study revealed the fact that the people who have little or no self-control live with two or four years less than the people who can control what they do with ease. Howard S. Friedman of the University of California, Riverside, who was the leader of one of the studies, stated that the difference in life expectancy might be because of the fact that the people who can control themselves are less likely to start smoking and drinking.

3. Anxiety can be a killer as well, because it has been proven that the people who are more opened to social relationships, and who are more extroverts will live longer than the people who are constantly living with anxiety, no matter the type. The people with mellow demeanor are less likely to develop dementia, Alzheimer, or any other illnesses. The study was conducted on more than 500 elder people over the course of five years. The ones who were more outgoing the risk for developing dementia were 50 percent lower than in the case of the introvert people.

2. The Type-D people, meaning the ones who are distressed, and gloom have higher chances of dying than the other people.  Besides being disadvantaged from a social point of view, the inhibited and gloomy persons are disadvantaged from the physically point of view as well. The Type-D people are more likely to experience negative emotions and to hold what they feel inside of them. It has been revealed that this personality is in close relationship with the body’s stress response system and immune system as well.

1. Stress is the number one thought that can kill you. Being stressed all the time will increase the possibilities of developing a heart disease, high blood-pressure, metabolic syndrome, and flu virus. It has been revealed that stress is strongly connected with type-2 diabetes, as the people who are stress are more likely to develop the illness than the ones who are more chilled. A job promotion might bring you more money but the chances are that it will stress you more as well.

Stay away from these thoughts, and your life will be healthier and better.