Over the last month somehow John Edwards has become the poster child for the most terrible politician and husband in America. While his trials are ostensibly about campaign finance issues, in reality Edwards has become the pretty boy America loves to hate because he was a no good cheater on his recently departed wife.
Well, having a bad reputation and having to pay back some campaign finance money might be the least of Edward’s problems according to a recent study by the University of Florence. Men who cheat are more likely to die of heart attacks, which means Edwards and a whole slew of other politicians might need to look out.
A recent University of Florence study has shown that men who cheat are more likely to have heart attacks (even during the affair) compared to men who are actually faithful.
Now I know that any spurned woman out there is thinking this is some type of karmic justice meted out by the gods of OPP but it’s not that simple.
Men who are unfaithful are much more likely to be physically fit, have above average sexual function, confidence and a whole other series of factors that are not usually associated with heart attacks. So what gives? Why is the pretty boy 50 year old politician who dips out on his wife more likely to have a heart attack than the 50 year old couch potato who breaks a sweat handing the remote to his wife?
Because Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy.
According to the research, men who cheat are more likely to be with significantly younger female partners and more inclined to engage in risky dangerous behavior to keep up with them. Think Jessa and her dancing boss from last week’s episode of Girls or just about any scene with Christy Brinkley from National Lampoon. On top of that, the lying , cheating, ducking and diving that is associated with maintaining an affair is extremely stressful and often contributes to heart attacks as well.
Clearly this report won’t help John Edwards now – and to be honest even if he knew of these results years ago I don’t think it would have stopped him from doing the humpty hump with Rielle Hunter. However, it’s not too late for other politicians out there to clean up their acts. To be honest though, since it is an election year most elected officials are going to go out of their way to clean up their acts and tone down their affairs. But mark my words, if a report comes out this summer that some member of Congress had a heart attack and was found at a Black Eyed Peas concert with a TAPOUT t-shirt on, we might need to start looking for their mistress.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
