The Hostile Heart could shorten life

I have a friend, George, who has what looks like a hatchet mark right in the middle of his forehead. You know, that crease some folks have between their eyebrows.

This signifies anger and hostility, I tell him. I worry that he is going to die of a heart attack.

Perhaps you think I am being unnecessarily dramatic. George certainly does. He is quick to point out that he is, after all, a former ski pro, totally in shape, and can wrestle me to the ground with one hand tied behind his back.

All true. "But you still have that mark of a hostile heart," I tell him, "no matter how awesome your quads are."

His hatchet mark just gets deeper; he is starting to look like that proverbial "heart attack ready to happen." Maybe George should just go for Botox treatments. But maybe he should just take a look at the science.

What is "hostility?" Psychologists typically use these descriptors: Anger, defensiveness, suspiciousness. And they have found that hostility is irrefutably guilty by association when it comes to coronary heart disease, or CHD.

A large number of people in North Carolina were studied for four years, and the angrier subjects were found to be at a higher risk for CHD than those who were feeling perky about life. And this was true even when they backed out all of those well known risk factors like smoking.

And if you think this just includes angry postal workers, think again. Another study assessed over 200 doctors, rating their levels of hostility. Twenty-five years later, 14 percent of the Dr. Meanies were croaking from heart attacks compared to only 2 percent of the Dr. Sweeties.

We need to pay attention to this. According to a recent study reported in Health Psychology, a man's hostility score was the most reliable predictor of later heart disease events. The only other significant predictor of CHD was a man's level of the "good" cholesterol (HDL); the higher the level, the less likely the development of heart disease.

How can it be that a hostile heart makes for a damaged heart?

If you are chronically angry and hostile, then you are probably in a state of constant arousal. Your heart doesn't have a chance to slow down or vary its pace. Stress hormones remain chronically high.

It is a slippery slope to a heart attack.

So here is the bottom line. You can exercise all you want, gobble all of the right supplements, and never eat another cookie. But you may just be wasting your time if you continue to view the world as one big cesspool with you assigned only a leaky life raft.

So I told my friend George that it might be time for him to take stock of his negative attitudes. Does he often feel at the mercy of others? Has he been described as defensive, overreactive, contemptuous?

"What good would that do?" he asked, referring to my suggestion that he question his attitudes. "If only the good die young, then I should live forever."

I, of course, think George is defending his hostile nature with this odd romantic notion. And it is obviously not true as it seems that the "good" -- or at least those with good attitudes -- do live longer.

Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh is a Cape Girardeau native who is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years experience helping individuals and couples with their emotional and relationship issues. He has a private practice in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com.