The term ‘Type A personality’ was invented in the 50s by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, who studied the risk of heart disease in association with Type A personality traits. They describe Type A as competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management and/or aggressive and concluded that Type A behavior doubles the risk of coronary heart disease in otherwise healthy individuals[1].
I am Type A and it’s my contention that it causes many other health issues too. I’m clean-living, visibly fit and healthy, but I admit I had a heart attack aged 56, running on the beach one morning.
Type A traits also include status-conscious, sensitive, impulsive, angry, defensive, perfectionist, anxious and proactive. Type A men are often high-achieving workaholics, hating delays and ambivalence. They typically experience high job-related stress and less job satisfaction[1].
We’re stress bunnies with no off switch.
I believe that we create our stress and that our beliefs influence our health and life experience. We can, for example, choose meditation to calm our minds and direct our thoughts to the positive spectrum, or we can indulge in unrestrained negative thinking that constantly triggers our adrenal system and creates a cycle of fear, anxiety, stress and panic.
For men, there is social pressure to cope with everything, to hide ‘un-desirable’ emotions and signs of instability or ‘weakness’. If we bow to this pressure, we shut down. Stress hormones build up in our bodies and can lead to high blood pressure, inflammation, headaches, backaches, anxiety, cognitive impairment and many other diseases. It can also foster depression and addiction, as we try to find ways of silently coping whilst in denial of our real situation[1].
We develop a lack of trust — we don’t trust ourselves, because we’re out of whack with our truth and we don’t trust others, to whom we could turn for support. This hampers resilience and recovery from stress. It also separates us from our fellows, potentially intensifying the suffering and adding loneliness to the mix. Social isolation and loneliness present a major public health issue, adversely affecting health and longevity and posing a greater health risk than smoking or obesity[2].
The antidote to chronic stress consists of many small actions to support our true self and allow us to re-integrate with the support systems we sorely need. We need to recognize our own agency to bring about this positive change, then actually make that change.
So how we do this?
Where beliefs or ‘thought habits’ have caused prolonged stress, the key is to bring those thoughts to the conscious mind and choose to build new beliefs. It’s simple work, but like any change, it’s demanding. The good news is anyone can do it.
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References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory
[2] http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691614568352
Based on https://dexrandall.com/type-a-personality-stress-relief/
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