Search Results for: blog hostility can harm your immune system

Guys, Watch Your Temper at Work!

Does something at the office just make you want to explode? Maybe it’s not “blowing your top” you should worry about, but blowing your heart. A new study from the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University in Sweden has found a connection between bottling up anger at work and heart attack risk. Nearly three thousand employed men participated in the decade-long study. None had suffered a heart attack before the start of the study. During the study, however, nearly fifty men suffered from a heart attack or died from heart disease. Many of those men had been “covertly coping” with … Continue reading →

Bodyworks: Physically Calming Yourself

Yesterday, we took a look at how anger works in the body — what it does to your hormones, your body language, your heart rate, and more. Anger isn’t just a mental state; it has an impact on the whole body. Calming down can be a whole body process, too. The instinctive reaction to anger is aggression. Anger is one way the body and mind respond to threats — like yesterday’s example of the reckless driver. If someone cuts you off in traffic, you may get mad because they have endangered your life. Maybe that anger makes you drive a … Continue reading →

Bodyworks: the Physical Side of Anger

Some people have a shorter fuse than others. Some people seem to spend most of the time ticked off about something. Anger is a normal, healthy emotional state — but it also has a physical impact on the body. Anger can change the body in many different ways: Heart rate can increase Blood pressure can rise Facial expression and body language can change — the face may get flushed, the jaw may clench, the arms may raise. Hormone levels change Perspiration can increase Blood flow to the hands may increase in preparation to fight Researchers have observed a pattern of … Continue reading →

Zinc and Other Health Issues

When you think about zinc, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? A vitamin slogan? A cold remedy? For a lot of people, zinc is one of the first things they turn to when a cold is brewing. However, different studies on zinc and the common cold have had different outcomes. One study from the Cleveland Clinic found that zinc didn’t make a difference for muscle aches and fever, but did cut the duration of a cold by half. Another study looked at different types of zinc lozenges used for treating colds — zinc gluconate vs. zinc acetate. In … Continue reading →

Cut Cholesterol With Your Mind

More proof that mind really is stronger than matter: a recent study from Oregon State University found that keeping your cool can keep your cholesterol at a healthy level. More than seven hundred men took part in a study from Oregon State University focusing on staying calm in stressful situations. Those men who managed to stay calm when provoked kept their HDL (good) cholesterol levels steady. Some even experienced an elevation in HDL cholesterol levels! You definitely want to keep good cholesterol around. Men in the study who didn’t stay calm had lower HDL levels and higher triglycerides. Neither group … Continue reading →

A Link Between Obesity and Your Immune System?

Scientists from the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Boston Medical Center are looking at a possible link between obesity and immune system function. Previous research has found that obese people are more likely to suffer from periodontal disease than lean people. This new study looked at why. Researchers worked with laboratory mice — some who were obese and some who were lean and healthy. The mice were infected with a bacterium that causes periodontal disease (porphyromonas gingivalis). The obese mice were more susceptible to gum disease and had a blunted immune system reaction to the infection. Ten … Continue reading →

Hostility Can Harm Your Immune System

Researchers from Duke University have found that hostility and depression can harm a man’s immune system and increase the risk of heart disease. Negative emotional states can also increase a man’s risk of diabetes, chronic inflammation, and high blood pressure. Hostile, angry, and depressed people are more likely to have increased levels of C3 — an immune system protein associated with chronic inflammation. Elevated C3 levels have been connected to heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. The Duke University study tracked more than three hundred male Vietnam veterans over a decade — these study participants were part of a … Continue reading →