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Once it was thought that the Type A personality was a culprit in the development of hypertension: the driven, aggressive, high paced, high achiever. But that theory has fallen apart over the last few years. However there may be aspects of Type A behaviour that matter. The word hypertension often makes people think of stress. In fact it's high blood pressure, but that doesn't mean psychological factors have nothing to do with it. There may well be social and psychological factors involved, which is what a large study in the United States has been investigating in young to middle aged people. Once it was thought that the Type A personality was the culprit...the driven, aggressive, high paced, high achiever. But that theory has fallen apart over the last few years. There may however be aspects of Type A behaviour that matter. This particular study has followed about 5000 people since the mid 1980s, when they were aged between 18 and 30. The main characteristics measured were time urgency/impatience, or TUI; achievement striving/competitiveness, or ASC, and hostility. I'm sure you know someone who has these symptoms - maybe it's you! It turned out that after allowing for other risk factors, including anxiety and depression, the higher a person's scores on time urgency/impatience (TUI) and hostility, the more likely they were to develop hypertension over 15 years. Yeah yeah I'm nearly finished so don't get twitchy. Take a chill pill and un-TUI yourself. If only it were so easy.
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