Grudges are Hard on your Heart, Study Contends

'Americans who harbor grudges have up to a two times greater risk of heart problems as those who forgive freely, according to new Luther College research that could have implications for Iowans and other people who are viewed as thin-skinned.

The link appears to be stress, which drives up blood pressure and wears down the heart, said Loren Toussaint, a psychology professor at the Decorah school.

"When you don't forgive, you endure that chronic load, the burden of that wrongdoing and the ensuing stress," Toussaint said. "They wear on you similar to running your car without oil."

The transgressions do not have to be big to take a toll, either.

Adults can distance themselves from a messy divorce or past abuse, for example.

"But an unpleasant co-worker who's always got a diminutive remark, you have to deal with that on a daily basis," Toussaint said. "That can be very corrosive on your physiological makeup."

Forgiveness, a traditionally embraced by theologians, entered the scientific mainstream in recent years as religion became a recognized division in the study of psychology.

Toussaint and his Harvard University partner, Alyssa Cheadle, published two studies this year in "Religion and Psychology," a book of scholarly work from public and private universities worldwide. The pair also are weaving forgiveness into treatment plans for fibromyalgia patients and therapy for civil war refugees from Sierra Leone in West Africa.

Next month, Toussaint will begin seminars at Luther for students who strive to be more forgiving.

The heart study's findings were based on a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism survey of 43,000 American adults from all 50 states. Toussaint's questions were added to the survey at no charge.

Toussaint and Cheadle grouped participants by their responses to questions about heart trouble and their ability to forgive. Twenty-one percent reported at least one obstacle to forgiveness.

The researchers then used statistical analysis to link what they call "unforgiveness" and heart problems and controlled for age, race, income and other variables. They found people who held grudges had up to a 1.7 times greater risk of suffering some type of heart problem.

Risk of heart attack and hardening of the arteries was greater for those who reported problems forgiving many people. A higher risk of chest pain, high blood pressure, rapid heartbeat and other conditions was linked to all types of obstacles to forgiveness.

Toussaint said he worries more about people who are easily offended than those who find it hard to get past one transgression.

"The chronic nature of those offenses, coupled with your inability to deal with them very effectively and to harbor that resentment - that spells disaster as time goes by," he said.

The findings could have implications for people of different religious and geographic backgrounds, Toussaint said.

Some religions teach to forgive freely while others have conditions, he said.

And "nice" Midwesterners are offended more easily than their East Coast counterparts, who have a reputation for being more upfront with their feelings.'

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