Did you know that when we recall past events that made us angry or Negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and anxiety, our blood vessels undergo a change that could increase the risk of heart attacks?
Feelings of anger and rage have more far-reaching effects than just damaging our mental health as they have been shown to adversely affect the health of our blood vessels, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
This result comes from a study in young adults who seemed to be in good health. The participants were asked to think about past experiences that made them angry while various aspects of their circulatory health were measured. Perhaps unsurprisingly, none of them had a heart attack or stroke during this process, but they did experience impaired blood vessel functioning that has been linked to such outcomes.
"There have been some studies in the past that have linked the feelings of anger, the feelings of anxiety, and the feelings of sadness to heart disease risk in the future," said Dr. Daichi Shimbo, the lead author of the study and a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Columbia University in New York City.
Tasks involving sadness and anxiety didn't result in a significant change in those markers compared to the neutral task - but the anger task did, according to Shimbo. "It looks like anger's adverse effects on health and disease may be due to its adverse effects on vascular health ... the blood vessel health itself," he said.
Feelings of anger were proven to have an adverse effect on the health of a blood vessel ( Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)
While this isn't the first study to link emotions with heart health, it certainly illuminates the mechanisms at play, according to Dr. Joe Ebinger of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, who wasn't part of the study team. "This is one of the first well-done randomized studies and placebo-controlled studies has really shown us that there are changes in our vasculature that occur acutely in response to the emotions that we're feeling," Ebinger remarked. The study pinpointed three key ways anger can wreak havoc on our blood vessels, noted researcher Shimbo. Anger was found to hinder blood vessels from dilating properly during ischemia, or reduced blood flow, Shimbo explained. It also seemed to interfere with cellular markers related to injury and repair, he added.
Deborah Ashway, a licensed clinical mental health counselor based in New Bern, North Carolina, suggests asking yourself: "What might be impeding on your energy or thoughts? What are you protecting yourself from? What do you need that isn't being met? " Neither Ford nor Ashway were part of the study.
Exercise has been shown to alter the brain in ways that benefit heart health, particularly for those suffering from depression. "And then once you're aware of it, you're in control of it. It's no longer going to control you now," Ashway advised, noting that this awareness is the starting point for deciding how to proceed.
