

Is it really true that happy people live longer? “Stress is very tightly linked to general health. The researchers theorized that an uptick in stress hormones, which are associated with feelings of anger, creates inflammation in the airways.ħ. The men with the highest hostility ratings had significantly worse lung capacity, which increased their risk of respiratory problems. A group of Harvard University scientists studied 670 men over eight years using a hostility scale scoring method to measure anger levels and assessed any changes in the men's lung function. Not a smoker? You still could be hurting your lungs if you're a perpetually angry, hostile person. “These tend to fill our minds completely and pull our focus toward the present moment, and there's just no room left for anger to stir when you've got that going.”Ħ. “Any activity which fully absorbs you is a good cure for anger, such as golf, needlepoint, biking,” he says. 1 piece of advice for someone struggling with depression mixed with anger is to get busy and stop thinking so much. “In depression, passive anger - where you ruminate about it but never take action - is common,” says Aiken. Numerous studies have linked depression with aggression and angry outbursts, especially in men. Not only were higher levels of anger found in people with GAD, but hostility - along with internalized, unexpressed anger in particular - contributed greatly to the severity of GAD symptoms.ĥ. In a 2012 study published in the journal Cognitive Behavior Therapy, researchers found that anger can exacerbate symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a condition characterized by an excessive and uncontrollable worry that interferes with a person’s daily life. If you’re a worrier, it’s important to note that anxiety and anger can go hand-in-hand. Anger problems can make your anxiety worse. “But you've got to start by calming down.”Ĥ. “Assertive communication, effective problem solving, using humor, or restructuring your thoughts to get away from that black-and-white, all-or-nothing thinking - those are all good ways to cope,” says Fristad. If you're someone who's habitually angry, protect your immune system by turning to a few effective coping strategies. In one study, Harvard University scientists found that in healthy people, simply recalling an angry experience from their past caused a six-hour dip in levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A, the cells’ first line of defense against infection. If you're mad all the time, you just might find yourself feeling sick more often. You might even need to change your environment by getting up and walking away,” says Dr. Instead of losing your temper, “Do some deep breathing.
ANGRY EMOTION HOW TO
“To move into positive coping, you need to first identify what your triggers, and then figure out how to change your response,” says Mary Fristad, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the Ohio State University. Some good news: You can learn to control those angry explosions. For people with an aneurysm in one of the brain’s arteries, there was a six times higher risk of rupturing this aneurysm following an angry outburst. One study found there was a three times higher risk of having a stroke from a blood clot to the brain or bleeding within the brain during the two hours after an angry outburst. “Constructive anger - the kind where you speak up directly to the person you are angry with and deal with the frustration in a problem-solving manner - is not associated with heart disease,” and is actually a very normal, healthy emotion, says Aiken.Ģ. To protect your ticker, identify and address your feelings before you lose control. In fact, one study found that people with anger proneness as a personality trait were at twice the risk of coronary disease than their less angry peers. “Repressed anger - where you express it indirectly or go to great lengths to control it, is associated with heart disease,” says Dr. “In the two hours after an angry outburst, the chance of having a heart attack doubles,” says Chris Aiken, MD, an instructor in clinical psychiatry at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and director of the Mood Treatment Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Most physically damaging is anger's effect on your cardiac health. An angry outburst puts your heart at great risk. If you're prone to losing your temper, here are seven important reasons to stay calm.ġ.

However, unhealthy episodes of anger - when you hold it in for long periods of time, turn it inward, or explode in rage - can wreak havoc on your body. In fact, anger may help some people think more rationally. Sometimes anger can be good for you, if it's addressed quickly and expressed in a healthy way.
