Interesting Psychology Team
There are so many effects anger could have on your health. Let’s examine some of these effects
Heart Problems:
Anger puts you at great risk of having a heart attack. The risk of having a heart attack doubles whenever you have an outburst of anger. When you suppress your anger or express it through an unhealthy outlet, the effect goes directly to your heart meaning it could lead to heart problems. In fact, a study has shown that people with anger disorders or volatile anger are more likely to have coronary disease more than people who show less signs of anger. However, constructive or positive anger is in no way related to any heart problem. It could even be very good for your health.
Weak Immune System:
Getting angry all the time can actually weaken the immune system, making you prone to more and more illnesses as a study has confirmed. Based on a study conducted in Harvard Medical School, an angry outburst can cause a 6-hour drop in the amount of immunoglobulin A, an antibody responsible for defending the body against infections. Now, imagine if you are always angry; you could really damage your immune system unless you learn to control your anger.
Cause Stroke:
You are at a very high risk of having a severe stroke if you are the type who explodes every time. Volatile and habitual anger increases your possibility of developing a stroke ranging from a slightly mild blood clot to the brain to actual bleeding in the brain.
Increase Anxiety: Experiencing anxiety at one point or the other is a normal thing but anger can actually worsen your anxiety if care is not taken. In fact, anger is a primary emotion to anxiety i.e. your anxious feelings may be due to underlying anger problems. Anger increases the symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which is an extreme case of anxiety. People with GAD have higher levels of repressed, internalized, and unexpressed anger which contributes to the development of GAD symptoms; this can be quite destructive.
Causes Depression:
Anger increases anxiety which can in turn result in clinical depression. Over the years, many studies have found a link between anger, anxiety, and depression, especially when it comes to men. Passive anger is one of the symptoms of depression; you are constantly angry but too unmotivated to act on the anger.
Decreases Lifespan:
Anger results in stress and stress is a very strong suspect when it comes to ill health. Combined with stress, anger can have a really strong effect on your health and it can shorten your lifespan due to the number of health problems it can generate. People who constantly experience repressed anger have shorter lifespans than people who express their anger healthily.
Conclusion
Anger should never be repressed or unhealthily expressed. Instead, you should take active efforts to manage your anger and put it under control so as to avoid all of the negative effects of anger which you have just learned about. Never should you try to stifle or suppress your anger. Suppressing emotions as we have reiterated over the chapters makes it hard to manage them or master them like you should. To start with, pay attention to any feeling of anger you experience and use the information gained to discern where the anger is coming from so that you can use one or more of the anger management techniques we will be checking out below to effectively combat anger problems.
