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Could Cynicism Cause Heart Disease And Dementia? Besides traditional risk factors like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and smoking, cynicism has also been named as one that could cause heart disease. So, what is cynicism? Cynicism is an attitude of suspicion where one believes the future is bleak and that people are acting only out of self-interest. A cynical person always thinks the worst and cannot see the good in anyone. Being a deep mistrust of others, cynicism is considered by psychologists as a kind of chronic anger that develops over time. A Finnish study by researchers from University of Eastern Finland, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Sweden, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland and other institutes found that cynical people not only have a higher risk of heart disease but are also more likely to get dementia. The paper was published online May 28, 2014 in the journal ‘Neurology’. Previous studies have found that people who are cynical have a higher risk of developing coronary heart disease, cardiovascular problems and cancer-related deaths. Cardiovascular disease does contribute to dementia because it damages small blood vessels everywhere in the body, including those in the brain. In 2009, a study reported that women who scored high on tests of cynicism and hostility had higher rate of heart disease than those who scored the lowest.
Cynical people tend to have greater stress responses, meaning they might have a higher heart rate, a higher blood pressure peak, and a tendency to have greater inflammation of their immune systems. Chronic inflammation is believed to be harmful to one's overall health and is linked to many things including high cholesterol and even Alzheimer's disease. Dementia is a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury. People with dementia might have memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. In the United Kingdom, 1 in 3 people aged above 65 will develop dementia and of the 800,000 people who have a form of dementia, more than half have Alzheimer’s disease. It is estimated that, by 2051, about 1.7 million Britons will suffer from dementia. There is a total of 1,449 people were tested in the study for dementia. The average age of these participants was 71. They filled in a questionnaire to measure their level of cynicism. Participants were asked how much they agreed with statements like "I think most people would lie to get ahead," "It is safer to trust nobody," and "Most people will use somewhat unfair reasons to gain profit or an advantage rather than lose it." Based on their scores, participants were grouped into 3 groups: low, moderate and high levels of cynical distrust. At the outset of the study and an average of 8.4 years later, 622 people completed both tests for dementia. After taking into account of other factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking that could affect the risk of dementia, the researchers found that people with high levels of cynical distrust were 3 times more likely to develop dementia than people with low levels of cynicism. Of the 164 people with high levels of cynicism, 14 developed dementia, comparing to 9 of the 212 people with low levels of cynicism. Among the 246 people with moderate levels of cynicism, 13 were diagnosed with dementia during the study. Researchers also examined the link between levels of cynicism and mortality. Their analysis showed that high cynicism was associated with earlier death: 361 deaths from 1,146 persons for an average study period of 10.4 year. But the link between cynicism and death disappeared after taking into account of factors including socioeconomic status, behaviors such as smoking and other health conditions. People with cynicism tend to be older, weigh more, exercise, smoke, and had higher blood pressure and higher blood sugar. They also had less education and poorer self-reported health status. But once these factors were accounted for, the cynical people were more likely to develop dementia. It is possible that the very early symptoms of dementia include increased cynicism, according to researchers. Anyway, they acknowledged there is a need for larger replication studies.
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