Could your handwriting reveal your likelihood of having a heart attack?
New handwriting analysis research suggests that the writing of people with heart disease is visibly different. It’s thought that these differences could indicate stress leading to heart malfunctions, according to graphologist Christina Strang. She compared handwriting samples of 61 heart patients with those of 41 healthy people at Poole Hospital.
When writing, we all rest the pen for milliseconds in the course of a stroke.
Strang’s research showed twice as many ‘resting dots’ in the cardiac group. She says this is because every disease distorts the basic rhythm in the way our systems function – even in the way we write. Therefore, handwriting analysis and health have a deep connection.
The discovery will be developed into a tool to help cardiologists spot potential dangers.
Christina Strang, from Wiltshire, compared handwriting samples of 61 cardiac patients from Swindon with those of healthy people.
Heart problem
Her research showed twice as many “resting dots” among the cardiac group.
Ms Strang, 53, has worked analysing handwriting for 12 years and is based in Chippenham.
She was inspired to investigate the link between potential health problems and handwriting after learning about the work of Professor Alfred Kanfer.
Professor Kanfer, born in 1902, was a handwriting consultant in the Austrian government who was sent to Dachau concentration camp during World War II and then lived in the United States.
He worked with the American Cancer Society in the 1950s, exploring the possible early detection of malignant diseases through the analysis of handwriting, also known as graphology.
Ms Strang said: “I managed to find a statistically significant difference in the writing of patients with cardiac disease and my control group.
“I’ve found one particular movement in the writing, although I actually believe there’s far more than just the one link, and my research is going to be continuing, looking to see if I can find those other links as well.
“In the group I used, some had been diagnosed and some hadn’t, so I’m hoping to do a completely new group of people who have not been diagnosed with heart disease and the idea is to see if I can pick out the ones that will ultimately be diagnosed.”
She explains that she examines the number of “resting dots” – the place where the pen stops momentarily in the course of a stroke – as part of her analysis.
Source: BBC and Daily Mail
Disclaimer: One element of handwriting may be analysed at a time, but always look at the entire handwriting sample before arriving at any conclusion.
