To the doctor and the soon to be one, what about an article I read the other day linking attitude and heart disease? I don't have it in front of me, but it was something about feelings of helplessness or sadness.
: Will we one day find that emotions are as big a part of our health as our diet? Would this explain the people we all know who live horrible lifestyles but live to be 100?Here's a short answer:
Yes, I think that "attitude" has an impact on health. The
2 major causes of death in Western societies are heart
disease and cancer. If you have an "attitude" to not
smoke or eat foods that will contribute to your demise--
and concern yourself with avoiding other risk factors
(e.g. wearing seat belts), you will probably live longer.
I think your question though is mostly: "Will a
good attitute allow me to live longer even if I
have poor risk factors?"
Possibly.
The metabolism of serotonin, epinephrine and nor-
epinephrine are key issues. These are vaso-constrictors
that limit blood supply to organ systems. If your
attitute generates more of these agonists, you may
tend to find an increase in blood pressure, and
perhaps a decrease in blood supply to the heart or
brain. If this happens frequently and excessively
you might find a susceptibility to diseases caused
by a loss of blood supply. But some of this is
conjectural. Personally I think there is something
to it. But there is a greater effect for reducing
blood pressure by losing weight than by a "good
attitude."
Genes are important. If you have no heart disease
in any place in your family history, you will
probably not have it either. But there are
exceptions. Smoking two packs of cigarettes/day
is asking too much from your body. There is a
definite correlation between smoking and
general, full body arteriosclerosis.
Live to 100 with good attitude and poor habits?
Maybe, if you have wonderful genes; but you
are probably one in a million. Attitude counts,
but it is not a panacea. Mostly, you live according
to your choices.
Michael M. Rosenblatt
None.
