If you have ever been on the receiving end of some Twitter bullying it might make you a little happier to know that sending negative tweets could lead to heart disease.

A new study by the University of Pennsylvania suggests that amongst other reasons sending an angry tweet might increase your risk of heart disease. Researchers found that use of negative emotional language on Twitter and heart disease mortality rates correlate very strongly.

Low income, stress and smoking, are known contributors to the risk of heart disease, but it is thought that Twitter might be able to capture more information about the risks of heart disease than any of these.

Aggressive Language

Sourcing tweets sent between 2009 and 2010, the University of Pennsylvania discovered that communities where aggressive language such as ‘hate’ or  where swear words were used had much higher risks of heart disease.

At the other end of the spectrum, positive emotional language used, like ‘wonderful’ or ‘friend’, suggesting that the particular community was more optimistic and happy, showed signs of protecting people from heart disease.

So positive psychological states will be less likely to suffer heart disease, while negative ones will have a higher risk of it. Margaret Kern, a contributor to the study and assistant professor at the University of Melbourne, said,

“Psychological states have long been thought to have an effect on coronary heart disease. For example, hostility and depression have been linked with heart disease at the individual level through biological effects,

“But negative emotions can also trigger behavioural and social responses; you are also more likely to drink, eat poorly and be isolated from other people which can indirectly lead to heart disease.”

To be clear, people who are sending the tweets are, in general, not the dying from heart disease, their tweets reflect the areas they are sent in. A happy community sending happy tweets are less likely to suffer heart disease, but a unhappy community sending unhappy tweets are at much higher risk of heart disease.

“If many of your neighbours are angry, you are more likely to die of heart disease”

H. Andrew Schwartz, a visiting assistant professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Computer and Information Science, “If many of your neighbours are angry, you are more likely to die of heart disease.”

Billions of people use the 140 character sending social media site, talking about their day to day life, opinions and feelings. Twitter used as a viewing scope into the collective mental state of a community could help public health services see where their work is most needed.

‘Psychological Language on Twitter Predicts County-Level Heart Disease Mortality’, was first published in Psychological Science on 20th January 2015.

Openhouse sell Fully Automated Defibrillators, that can save lives of people with heart disease or prevent a young person suffering sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. If you would like to see our range of defibrillators please visit Oh-Medical.com