The Los Angeles Daily News

Nice guys finish last, and there's growing evidence they may die first, too. They're slowly poisoning their bodies not with fat, salt or too much sugar, but with pent-up rage.

Then again, being a loudmouthed jerk doesn't solve anything. It just spreads the problem, with each outburst infecting others with bad thoughts.

Recent scientific studies prove that balancing the body's volatile cocktail of emotions may be just as important as eating a well-balanced diet. Rage is emotional cholesterol. Unchecked, it can cause sickness even death.

In extreme cases, pent-up rage can burst out in the form of a homicidal rampage, such as the recent shooting spree that left three dead in Alabama, or the July 29 incident in Atlanta with 12 casualties, or the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

Most folks simply make themselves sick by keeping hostility bottled up inside.

Dr. George Solomon, professor emeritus of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, explains: Pent-up emotions trigger a complex series of biochemical reactions that ultimately sap the body's ability to fight off disease.

``The mind and body are inseparable. The brain controls bodily functions, and the mind exists within the brain,'' Solomon said. ``People who have repressive styles tend to be more prone to illness, particularly immunologically related or immunologically resisted diseases rheumatoid arthritis, infections, some cancers. The concept there isn't of expressed anger, but unexpressed anger. If one doesn't let it out, that could have adverse consequences.''

Anger, turned inward, can lead to depression, which many studies show to be the most harmful emotion, Solomon added.

This mind-body concept dates back to Greek philosopher Aristotle, but only recently have advancements in medical imaging and a better understanding of genetics and biology triggered serious study in the field.

``I wrote the first paper on the subject in 1964,'' Solomon said. ``Nobody really paid attention. Now it's hot stuff.''

Solomon's work at UCLA found people who said nothing when they were deliberately provoked underwent a rapid emotional spike a fight-or-flight response that caused decreased activity in the body's front-line of defensive immune cells, while those subjects who asserted themselves showed no significant change in body chemistry.

A University of Michigan study found men who bottle up their emotions until they spill out in violent outbursts have twice the risk of stroke when compared to men who manage to keep their emotions on a more even keel. Researchers plan a similar study on women, who express anger differently.

A recent Duke University study found that students with low hostility levels had about one-fourth the risk of coronary heart disease compared to students with high hostility scores.

In Israel, research published this summer found that hostility may be the most toxic component of a Type-A personality, the go-getter behavior pattern shown in past studies to increase the risk of heart disease.

``The evidence used to be that the so-called Type-A personality was associated with highly significant risk of coronary artery disease. The risk factor approached that of cholesterol,'' Solomon said. ``Type-A has two components: A sort of time-pressured, rushed executive-type component and a hostile component. Subsequent analyses of cardiovascular research seems to show the hostile component is more important than the rushed component.''

Dr. Bruce Raybin, a professor of pathology and psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, said it pays to think positively. His research shows that a pessimist's bleak view of life is ultimately a self-fulfilling prophecy. They get sick and die, while optimists tend to live longer because their bodies react less violently to stress.

``It's not the emotion that's critical, it's what the emotion does how it changes the chemistry of the body,'' Raybin said. ``Hostility seems to have a greater effect on increasing the concentration of hormones that are detrimental to the immune system.''

These studies and violent outbreaks like the Atlanta massacre are of great interest to biochemists like Dr. Jean Chen Shih, who is studying the genetic roots of aggression at the University of Southern California.

``Gene expression is regulated by environment,'' Shih said. ``In a way, human nature and environment are inseparable. They are working together.''

Shih studies lab mice, who look cute and cuddly but in fact are genetic mutants that are among the most aggressive rodents.

The mice are bred without a specific gene that helps the body regulate aggression, leaving them with high levels of the brain chemical serotonin and a tendency to fight. Shih is trying to unravel the biochemical mystery between the missing gene and the aggressive behavior.

Her work is based on the study of men in a Dutch family who lacked monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), an enzyme that degrades serotonin. They respond to daily stresses with violence.

For example, Shih explained, one man in that family who was laid off from a job ran over his boss with a car. Shih hopes her study of aggressive mice will lead to a better understanding of the molecular components of rage and aggression, ultimately leading to drugs to help regulate the dangerous emotions.

``We are at a very early stage,'' Shih said. ``It's a very exciting time for research. We can look at the molecular effects of the mind and behavior.''

Her work will help only in the most extreme cases violent criminals and people who respond violently to stress. Shih said her work may ultimately help identify and treat people like 44-year-old Mark O. Barton, whose failure as a stock market day trader is believed to have triggered his homicidal killing spree and suicide in Atlanta.

The rest of us simply need to take a few deep breaths and learn to seek emotional balance. It's not easy, though.

``Life is complicated,'' Solomon said. ``All of these topics are enormously complicated, both on the psychological side and the biological side.''

Take happiness, a proven balm for a sick body and mind. A Harvard Medical School study that followed college sophomores for 45 years found the best early predictor of good health at age 65 was having a warm relationship with parents.

Trouble is, happiness is subjective and elusive.

``How can you try to be happy?'' Solomon said. ``I see happiness as a byproduct of a full life. You can try to have a meaningful life, and then you're happy.''

The main prescription is the old standby: regular exercise.

Raybin said an exercise regimen doesn't have to be as intense as a professional athlete's. He said just increasing your heart rate a few times a week and doing it with friends when possible will help the body react better to stressful situations and store up those powerful hormones for real trouble.

More suggestions: Be social. Try to see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty. Don't be afraid to get counseling to help resolve inner conflict.

One thing that doesn't help is venting at others. That's just spreading rage.

``If you carry a burden of anger and repress it, you're probably worse off physically,'' Solomon explained. ``If you express it, however, everyone around you is worse off. If you're a miserable, hostile, nasty person and no one can stand you that's not exactly a healthy life, but your health may not suffer as much as if you bottle it up. Neither is very good. The best thing is to try to get some help to resolve old unresolved angers.''

Copyright 1999 The Los Angeles Daily News. All rights reserved.

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