By Dr. Charles Raison, CNN Contributor
I will be as thrilled -- or disappointed -- by the results of the presidential election as the next guy.
But
I have to caution you against letting your emotions get too carried
away by the election results -- especially if you are a man. It could be
bad for your health.
To put it bluntly: being on a losing team can be deadly.
I
had been a psychiatrist studying the effects of emotion on health for
many years before I discovered this incredible fact. I knew all about
the myriad studies in animals and humans that show that losing in
personal confrontations can negatively impact health. But I had no idea
how far the dangers of losing reached.
Does it seem preposterous that supporting the losing side of a presidential election could be dangerous for your health?
Ask
yourself whether you care as much about the election results as you do
about your favorite sports team. If you do, then I want to suggest you
are in some danger.
Study after study shows that death rates
spike in cities that lose important sporting events. Most of the deaths
are from sudden heart attacks and related cardiovascular events,
suggesting that people get so upset when their side loses that it
literally breaks their hearts.
I want to recommend that if you
are on the winning side of the election, you temper your hopes, because
your candidate may not fulfill them to your satisfaction.
If you
are on the losing side, consider the fact that the future is unknown,
that sometimes good things come out of unfortunate events and that your
candidate may have disappointed you in the end had he been elected (or
re-elected).
In the end, healthy emotions are all about fighting
for what one believes in while remaining open to the fact that one could
be wrong.
It is about feeling passionately while at the same
time retaining a perspective that allows one to benefit maximally no
matter what life delivers. And it is about knowing when to feel bad and
when feeling bad does nothing but hurt one's health.
If you're dealing with a loss -- be it a candidate or a sports team -- here are some coping tips:
1.
Be proactive. Don't let yourself stay in a an emotional place dominated
by feelings of hopelessness or powerlessness. Get involved in another
activity or cause you care about.
2. Take a break. Tune out -- or turn off -- the news and other sources of information that may make you feel worse right now.
3.
Talk about your feelings. Discuss with those who share your sadness --
or those who take an opposite view. After an election, consider talking
with people on the other side, to see if you can gain a better
understanding of how they see the world.
