QUESTION: I'm a Type A personality I admit it.
In fact, I enjoy the rushing and competitiveness.
Unfortunately, a friend tells me I'm a good candidate for a heart attack.
I can't believe this, especially since I feel so good.
ANSWER: Some 20 years ago, Drs.
Mayer Friedman and Ray Rosenman sketched out the Type A personality: someone who does many things at once, takes on too much work, moves quickly, hates waiting, can't relax, interrupts, angers easily and is competitive.
Ever since then, cardiology has never been the same.
This seemingly definitive list has raised as many questions as it answered: Why, exactly, would Type A behavior lead to heart attack? Do some Type A characteristics count more than others? And most important, is there any way a Type A person can reform into a Type B? Researchers speculate that it's the high levels of the hormones adrenaline, cortisol and testosterone found in young Type A men that contribute over time to a narrowing of the coronary arteries, but this still is unproven.
Another question mark is whether these hormone changes are a result of Type A behavior or a cause of it. We know more about which Type A characteristics count most heavily.
Some studies show that hostility and anger are far more reliable predictors of heart disease than any other Type A characteristics.
This is good news indeed for people like you who are competitive, hurried and so forth, without being angry.
It may well be that Type A behavior has its good and its bad components. Even Type A's who are angry may not be headed for heart trouble. Hostility has been linked with coronary artery disease in younger people only. The theory here is that the older hostile Type A's are a hardy bunch who have avoided heart disease while the more vulnerable people in their age group succumbed to it prematurely. Finally, the best news: it is possible to change Type A behavior through counseling.
Patients learn that hostility and anger are likely to be harmful to their hearts and are trained in heading off these negative emotions.
Of course, if Type A behavior turns out to be the result of hormone imbalances or other physical causes, counseling will help only temporarily.
Researchers are now working to discover whether drugs can control Type A behavior, and a few early experiments have hinted that they can.
The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace the counsel and advice of your personal physician.
Promptly consulting your doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical problem.
