I realised i am interested in the stress and health aspect of psychology. Hmmm... maybe this is telling me to do the clinical stuff...

Want to live longer?

I am sure many of you have heard of people suffering from heart attacks, cancer, tumours and other much dreaded diseases. No one wishes to have them. Same goes for me. So i hope this post will help many people because i believe we are in control of our own lives. We do have control of our own health.

Also, this is a revision for me, so ya... =)

There are 4 types of personality. Type A refers to people who are WORKAHOLICS. They are very competitive, ambitious, hate to waste time and are EASILY ANNOYED. There is a constant sense of pressure and a strong tendency to try to do several things at once. Often successful but frequently unsatisfied, they always seem to want to go faster and do more, and they get EASILY UPSET over small things.

Type B people are not that competitive or driven, tend to be easygoing and slow to anger, and seem RELAXED and at PEACE. Type B people are more likely to take a book to the beach to cover their face than to actually read the book.

Researchers have found that people who live to be very old, into their nineties and even over 100 years, tend to be relaxed, easygoing, cheerful and active. People who have opposite personality traits such as aggressiveness, stubbornness, inflexibility and tenseness typically do not live as long as the average life expectancy.

The Framingham Heart Study found that the risk of coronary heart disease for women who work and are also Type A is FOUR TIMES that of Type B working women.

There are numerous studies supporting the link between hostility and increased risk of coronary heart disease. A study of hostility levels and risk factors for heart disease in over 4000 young adults found that increases in hostility over a five-year follow-up study were associated with a rise in high blood pressure, one of the major risk factors of heart disease.

Another study of anger in young men and their risk for premature heart disease found that over a period of slightly more than three decades, the young men who had exhibited high levels of hostility in their youth were far more likely to develop premature cardiovascular disease, particularly heart attacks, than those men who had lower levels of anger and hostility.

Similar studies found that hostility in college-aged male and females was significantly related to increased risk of heart disease, particularly if levels of hostility rose in middle age.

Type C people tend to be very PLEASANT and TRY to keep the peace but find it difficult to EXPRESS EMOTIONS, especially negative ones. They tend to INTERNALIZE their anger and often experience a sense of DESPAIR over the loss of a loved one or loss of hope. They are often LONELY.

These personality characteristics are strongly associated with CANCER, and people who have cancer and this personality type often have thicker cancerous tumors as well. The internalized negative emotions of the Type C personality may increase the levels of harmful stress hormones, weaken the immune system and slow recovery.

Well... I don't wish to die so quickly... or rather, i wish to live long. I wish to live and watch my grandchildren grow up. I wish to live and see Singapore celebrate her 100 years old. I don't wish to suffer all the lousy diseases. =)

Type 4 is the Hardy Personality. I believe this is the type of personality we should all strive to achieve(not to say I am forcing you to change who you are but well it's up to you).

Hardy people differ from ordinary, hostile Type A people and others who suffer more ill effects due to stress in three ways:
-Hardy people have a deep sense of COMMITMENT to their values, beliefs, sense of identity, work and family life.
-Hardy people also feel that they are in CONTROL of their lives and what happens to them.(SEE!! We are all in control of our lives!)
-Hardy people tend to interpret events in primary appraisal differently than people who are not hardy. They do not see a frightening problem to be avoided but instead a CHALLENGE to be met and answered.

Explaining the 3 above points, COMMITMENT makes a person more willing to make sacrifices and deal with hardships than if commitment were lacking. Think about it: Have you ever had a job that you hated? Every little frustration were very stressful, right? Now think about doing something you love to do. =)

Uncontrollability is one of the major factors cited as increasing stress, because you do not know when it might happen. Thus, if you FEEL that you are in CONTROL, you will experience lesser stress. Just tell yourself... You are always in control of the things that might happen anytime.

Seeing events as CHALLENGES rather than problems also changes the level of stress experienced, a difference similar to that felt when riding a roller coaster: If riding a coaster is your own idea, it's fun; if someone makes you ride it, it's not fun anymore.

Moving on... Optimists and Pessimists.

Researchers have found that optimism is associated with longer life and increased immune system functioning. (DON'T YOU WANT INCREASED IMMUNE SYSTEM FUNCTIONING???? Therefore, always look on the bright side of life!)

AND THIS... The results for pessimists were NOT GOOD: They had a much higher death rate than did the optimists, and those that were still living had more problems with physical and emotional health, more pain, less ability to take part in social activities and less energy than optimists. (You don't want to rot your time away right?)

To put it simply, do you prefer to be sad/angsty/depressed/feeling shitty/always having this feeling of impending doom... OR simply being happy?

An earlier study linked being optimistic to higher levels of helper T cells(immune system cells that direct and increase the functioning of the immune system) and higher levels of natural killer cells, the body's antivirus, anticancer cells.(Throw the bad stuff OUT OF THE WINDOW!! BRING THE GOOD STUFF IN!!)

What do OPTIMISTS have that PESSIMISTS don't?
1) Optimists are less likely to develop learned helplessness, the tendency to stop trying to achieve a goal that has been blocked in the past.
2) Optimists are more likely than pessimists to TAKE CARE OF THEIR HEALTH by preventive measures(YAY I AM AN OPTIMIST!) such as going to the doctor regularly and eating right because they believe that their actions make a difference in what happens to them. (This is a characteristic of hardy people as well.)
3) Optimists are far less likely than pessimists to become depressed and depression is associated with mortality because of the effect of depression on the immune system.
4) Optimists have more effectively functioning immune systems than pessimists, perhaps because they experience less psychological stress.

Seligman (1998) has also found that optimists are MORE SUCCESSFUL in their life endeavors than pessimists. Optimistic politicians win more elections, optimistic students get better grades(WHOA!), and optimistic athletes win more conpetitions.

Dr. Susn Vaughan (2000) has some good advice on keeping a positive outlook:
- Alternative thinking: Optimists tend to take bad things that happen less personally, (reminded me of AK's clearance of space..."throw away the bad feelings... because they are useless..."), often coming up with alternative explanations for why the bad thing happened.

- Downward social comparison: Many people make themselves feel better by comparing their performance to that of less competent others, making them feel better and protecting self-esteem. BUT... I know my mum always tell me not to compare with those who are lousier... so for this point to work... you need to work hard first and only when you are truly good, you can compare yourself with less competent others. However, if you are not that good, always have high self-esteem because only then, you would be able to know that you can do it.

- Relaxation: Optimists use relaxation as a way to improve mood, such as exercising, meditating, reading a good book... or PLAYING DOTA!!! =p

So finally, here's a plan to become an optimistic thinker:
1) When a bad mood strikes, stop and think about what just went through you head.
2) When you have recognized the negative statements, treat them as if they came from someone else - someone who is trying to make your life miserable. Think about the damage the statement is doing to YOU.
3) Argue with those thoughts. CHALLENGE each negative statement and replace it with a more POSITIVE one.

Well... I don't know why i typed all these out but somehow i feel that as many people should know as possible. I want everyone to live long long and be happy and there will be lesser wars and disputes and when lesser people die from lousy diseases, lesser people will be sad and there will be more HAPPY AIR. The world will be a better place to live in and so here i am asking a small small favour from you cos i know not many people read my blog(If you managed to read till here), copy and spread this around and erm... so that people will all know how to live longer? Haha... See you in 60 years time and we can all sit down and enjoy a cup of tea together!

References:

CICCARELLI S. K. & MEYER G. E. (2006) PSYCHOLOGY
Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 07458