The Racing Against Your Heart

The Racing Against Your Heart study was prompted by Dr. Friedman's ability to carefully observe the small, seemingly irrelevant details that lead to his and Dr. Rosenman's major scientific breakthrough in cardiovascular research. This goes back to when Dr. Friedman was having the furniture in his office reupholstered because he noticed how the material on the couches and chairs had become worn out. He also noticed that the front edges of the cushions were more worn out than the rest of the furniture. This led him to believe that his patients were literally "sitting on the edge of their seats". This discovery made Friedman want to see if there was a pattern in his heart disease patients with the characteristic of always being on edge and sitting nervously in chairs compared to healthier patients. Friedman then joined with Dr. Ray Rosenman to conduct surveys given to other physicians to test if the sitting on the edge of one's seat is directly related to developing heart disease or not. They both believed that people exposed to long periods of chronic stress were more likely to develop heart disease. Friedman and Rosenman had to apply for a grant to study the effects of emotions and behaviors associated with stress on the heart. They were told that only psychologists and psychiatrists could apply, but the grantor told them that to overcome that problem, was if they named the clinical "Visible Signs of Stress Type A Behavior".