Narcissistic men have higher levels of stress hormone [View all]

[seabeyond]

The trait has some positive qualities, such as abundance of self-esteem and positive sense of self. Narcissistic people characteristically tend to overestimate their intellectual abilities, attractiveness and positive personality traits, wrote Konrath.

But they don’t enjoy healthy relationships with others because they’re generally low on empathy and high in hostility – especially when their positive self-image is threatened. Since previous research confirmed that narcissism has a harmful effect on relationships, Konrath wanted to know more.

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Cortisol is a measurement of how prepared your body is ready to respond to a threat, said Konrath. If the cortisol response is always high in the absence of a threat, it indicates an overactive response in the body. This can have long-term health effects such as blood sugar imbalances, heart problems and weight gain

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“We think what’s going on is, there’s some sort of especially toxic relationship between both being male and having a sense of masculinity or threat to a masculine identity.”

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/23/narcissistic-men-have-higher-levels-of-stress-hormone/?hpt=hp_bn10