We often think of anger as a cathartic experience; “letting it all out” and bringing back a sense of serenity and balance to ourselves. While there is some truth in that, it’s not the full story. In fact, for many people, anger can have quite the opposite effect on their overall health.
It’s because of these negative health impacts, as well as negative social and psychological impacts that people decide to get anger management counselling and therapy in Melbourne, Sydney, or wherever they live. But why is anger so bad for your physical health?
Reason 1: Your Heart Health
Sudden and powerful bursts of anger put enormous strain on your heart. It’s not a media myth that many people have heart attacks in moments of heightened emotion or anger. Some doctors have pointed out that in the time immediately after any angry outburst, your chance of experiencing a heart attack can increase hugely, even double from any normal time. That’s a serious problem if you have an existing heart condition or poor heart health in general.
Reason 2: Stroke Risk
Besides heart attacks and similar problems, your risk of suffering from a stroke also increases when you are prone to angry outbursts. Research has indicated two main danger areas. First of all, there is an increased risk of both getting a blood clot in the brain or experiencing bleeding within the brain in the 2-hour period immediately following a heated moment of anger. Second, for those with an existing aneurysm, the chances of that aneurysm rupturing is increased 6 fold.
Blood clots, brain bleeding and aneurysms rupturing are all one-way tickets to a potentially lethal stroke, or at best a stroke that leaves you hospitalised and bed-ridden for weeks, and potentially much weaker for the rest of your life.
Reason 3: Anger Can Actually Make You Sick
Have you ever heard someone talk about being so mad that they could have been sick at that moment? Well, as it happens there’s some truth to that kind of expression. Researchers from Harvard University found that even recalling a past angry outburst caused the body’s levels of immunoglobulin A to drop for up to 6 hours. Immunoglobulin A is the body’s first go-to defence mechanism against infection.
Reason 4: It Hurts Your Lungs
Next, you might think that your lungs are always safe from harm if you’ve never been a smoker and you live in a place with terrific air quality. What could go wrong? In fact, if you’re a habitually angry and hostile kind of person, then it seems that damage can still be done to your lungs.
It has been demonstrated that there is some correlation between men who are perpetually angry and hostile to others and them having a reduced lung capacity. It’s all to do with the increase in stress hormones that are created during spells of outward anger and frustration. These hormones can lead to inflammation in your airways, which is the cause of the reduced lung capacity.
Reason 5: Anger Leads to a Shorter Life
Finally, it’s common enough to hear people say things like “happy people live longer,” but is there really truth to that? Actually it would seem that there is. Research shows that people who hold on to strong feelings of anger and resentment are much more likely to experience a shorter lifespan than those who can express the feelings more constructively and then learn to let go.
Dealing with it constructively can mean seeking professional help to learn to express your anger in more helpful ways, as well as techniques on learning to let go of previous angry feelings.