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Venting at the Office Helps Hearts

from the Wall Street Journal

Men who didn't confront colleagues or bosses who treated them unfairly doubled their risk of heart attack, according to a study in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Researchers asked 2,755 men how they typically responded to unfair treatment at work. Those who said they would most often "Go away" or "Let things pass without saying anything" had significantly more heart attacks during the following 10 years, even after researchers controlled for variables such as education level and job strain. The authors hypothesized that the stress resulting from unexpressed anger led to higher blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease.

Caveat: The researchers didn't ask respondents how often they faced unfair treatment at work. The authors also interviewed women for the study, but too few of them had heart attacks to conduct a meaningful analysis.