The Type A+ Podcast Episode 33 - Health Month: Is It Unhealthy to be a Type A Person?
Episode Description:
Welcome to April, Spring, and Health Month!
This month, we'll dive into a range of topics on health.
In today's episode, Beth answers the question: Is it unhealthy to be a Type A person? Featuring research, debates, and tips to help you live your best and healthiest Type A+ life.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Podcast:
The Type A Plus Podcast Instagram
Host:
Beth Lawrence & Company Instagram
Beth will be back each week, delivering bite-sized tips (15-minute episodes or less) on how to optimize your life and work.
Episode Transcript can be found below:
Welcome to the Type A+ podcast with me, Beth Lawrence.
I'm a certified meeting professional, an award-winning event planner, and a classic over-prepared overachiever.
In each episode, I'll deliver bite-sized tips on organizing your business and life, even during your most hectic times.
So, let's get started.
Hello everyone - a little late posting this today because, for the past few days, I've been taking care of my own mental health. My husband and I just got back from a few days on the Jersey Shore with our dog and were incredibly lucky with the weather. I actually took a nap yesterday, which is a rarity, I honestly can't remember the last time that I laid down to take an actual nap. This brings me to this month's theme: Health. I'm going to talk about overall themes regarding health as a Type A+ Person, including a few stories from my personal experience. Hopefully, you'll find it as interesting as I do, and you'll learn some helpful tips along the way.
Today, I'm hoping to answer the question "How Do Type A Behavior Patterns Affect Health?" First, I'll define a Type A personality and a Type B personality. I'll talk a little bit about how and when the term originated, and the ongoing debates around health. Finally, I'll give you my top tips to balance and stay as healthy as possible.
First, let's agree on what a Type A personality is. The concept originates with two cardiologists, Meyer Friedman, and Ray Rosenman. The article in Medical News Today defines a Type A personality as one who is ambitious, hardworking, and goal-oriented, and who can take on multiple tasks at once. Alternatively, they can display characteristics such as aggression, lack of patience, and determination, may easily feel frustration and anger, and overall may be more vulnerable to stress.
Alternatively, a Type B personality is someone who is associated with being laid back, goal-oriented but not bound by time, and less prone to stress as a result.
Freidman and Rosenman's findings were controversial, in that they linked Type A personalities with a higher risk of cardiac events.
In my research for this episode, I came across an article from the LA Times in 1989 called "Hostility Seen as 'Toxic Core' in Behavior of Type A People." In it, the author argues that cynicism, mistrust, and anger are the trifecta of traits that lead to workaholism, increased risk of heart disease, and early death. Yikes! This study was conducted by Duke University on a group of male lawyers, who fit a "broad definition of hostility," and found that they were more than four times more likely to die than others during the 25 years after law school.
Not sounding good, right?
Well, of course, it's not that simple. Dr. Redford B. Williams Jr., professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center, said that his research is aiming to refine the hypothesis that ambitious, impatient, "Type A" people are more prone to others than heart disease. He suggested a theory that Type A people's nervous systems may be less physically able to exert a calming effect after the “fight or flight” response.
On the contrary, Dr. Meyer Friedman, one of the two San Francisco cardiologists who first developed the Type A theory in the 1960s, responded to this assertion by stating that “a sense of time urgency” is equally important.
“The countries that are fighting (the pressures of) time are the countries that are fighting heart disease.” Moreover, he doesn't agree with the cynic label. He believes that inadequate self-esteem and insecurity are more significant personality characteristics leading to increased heart disease. I'm sure he does believe that because it turns out that the original study from the 1960s had been funded by tobacco companies. "Look the other way, much?"
I found a slew of other studies from the 1960s, 1970s, and up to today, but it seems that the nuances of each person's individual behaviors and characteristics are much more likely to predict health outcomes, whether one would describe their personalities as laid-back or wound super tight.
What did come up over and over again was the concept of taking on stress. Taking on responsibilities and overexerting oneself. Proving oneself to others. Impatience. Hostility. And, according to a 2017 study, Type A folks are more at risk of burnout, which is not surprising given everything we know above. Finally, something that came up was a general distrust of others. Increased annoyance at others.
In one example, a Type A person was standing in a long line at the bank, and constantly wondering why the person in front of them wasn't prepared when they got to the counter. Oooh, I can relate to this! I remember throughout my life telling folks "Patience is a virtue I do not possess." As I've gotten older, and especially since the pandemic forced me to slow down, I've found a few things that help with controlling the behaviors that aren't so bright and shiny about being a Type A person:
Cut the caffeine
Caffeine activates the stress axis, elevating glucocorticoid and catecholamine, output along with increases in blood pressure. Put simply, drinking caffeine when you're stressed can make your body feel more stressed.
Try doing 3/4 caffeine, then gradually adding more decaf and less caffeine. Or, try tea instead of coffee.
If you like the taste of coffee as I do, chicory coffee or MudWtr are good options.
Limit alcohol
For me, this is absolutely crucial. Cutting out alcohol has had such a positive effect on me and allows me to more easily identify my emotions and calm myself down. Before, especially in a combo of caffeine and a hangover or detoxing from alcohol (which is what a hangover is), my emotions would run away with me and that combo of stress was leading the pack.
Get outside!
Most of us didn't grow up during a time when we were outside all day every day. Screens are involved in so much of our lives that it is easy to have days pass you by without wandering in the wilderness. I'm telling you, do it! Get some sunshine on your (sunscreen-covered) face. Take a walk, and feel the Earth.
Create a schedule
Our favorite thing! Schedule your 'you' time before you schedule anything else. Annual planning? Schedule your vacations. Weekly to-do list? Add a little walk, bike ride, or park time. Anything that helps you feel the stress melt away
Get a hobby!
As adults, it can be difficult to stay consistent with the things that we loved, that make us a part of who we are. Make sure that you have something you are passionate about outside of work, that will take your mind to a more creative and restful spot.
Finally, meditate.
I am not someone who can sit in silence, I need guided meditation. Even 5 minutes of breathing will change your life!
In conclusion, how do Type A behavior patterns affect health? We don't know for sure, as a whole. But I do know that there are things we can control to help us cultivate calm in our lives and beat the odds stacked against us. And that's what we'll do!
That's the episode for today, friends. Next week, we'll talk about health trackers and whether they are truly 'good' for Type A people.
Until then, friends! Happy April.
The Type A+ Podcast is written and produced by me, Beth Lawrence.
Our music is composed by Dan “Dilemma” Thomas.
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