Don’t be Shy Else Your Heart Won’t Fly

Do you like to shake a leg and get the party going? Well, it could just turn out to be the best thing for your heart. This is what new research by scientists at Chicago Northwestern University suggests.

The team of researchers led by Jarett Berry and Philip Greenland found that men who are shy or anti-social are at almost 50% higher risk of dying due to a heart attack or stroke. They arrived at this conclusion after a study of nearly 2,100 middle-aged men spanning over 30 years.

At the beginning of the study, all volunteers were asked to fill in psychological questionnaires. By the end of the three decade period, 60% of the original study subjects had died. The researchers matched the death certificates of these men with the questionnaires to understand each man’s personality type.

Their analysis revealed that the most of the men who were shy died either due to a heart attack or stroke. The overall risk of such death among the shyest men was 50% higher than men who were most sociable, they found.

The researchers then analysed the men’s lifestyles to check links to other known risk factors such as smoking, drinking or obesity; they found nothing. This put to rest the doubt theory that shy or anti-social men might be prone to unhealthy, couch potato behaviour and so more likely to die.

The researchers hypothesized that either shy men get more stressed out by new situations, or there is a link between their introvert personality and that section of the brain that keeps the heart operating smoothly.

The study, findings of which are published in The Annals of Epidemiology, is not the first one to find a link between personality and health. Several studies have shown that people with only one particular type of personality face no increased risk of serious disease – the easy going type. In medical terms, such people are known as “B” personalities.

High blood pressure and heart disease is common among type “A” personalities – people who are driven workaholics and prone to stress and anger. Type “C” people on the other hand face an increased risk of cancer on account of their suppressing their feelings. Studies have also linked increased risk of heart attack and stroke with type “D” personality, which is seen in people who are pessimistic and have low self-confidence.

Dr. Eric Brunner, an epidemiologist at University College London linked the study with similar work carried out by him and his colleagues that found a connection between social status and poor health. According to his research, a shy personality can be the result of feeling socially inferior. This could lead to unhealthy changes in lifestyle and behaviour and even disturb the balance of the body’s hormones.

“What we shouldn’t say to people is that if you’re shy, you're going to die of a heart attack. This research is interesting, and may be showing one of the pathways by which lower social status is connected to disease,” he said.

“It suggests that social anxiety is very important – one of the reasons that a hierarchy exists is because people feel that they participate to a greater or lesser extent in the activities of the society in which we live,” Dr. Brunner added.

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