Recent research shows that getting angry, even for just a short while, can have immediate negative effects on our heart health.
This study, released by the Journal of the American Heart Association, helps us understand why being angry might increase the risk of heart attacks.
The research was led by Dr. Daichi Shimbo, a heart specialist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. Dr. Shimbo explained that when people get angry, the health of their blood vessels is affected.
Specifically, the ability of blood vessels to widen, or dilate, is impaired. This dilation is crucial because it prevents the arteries from becoming hard, a condition that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Previously, studies have shown that negative emotions like anger, anxiety, and sadness could increase the risk of heart problems.
However, it was unclear how these emotions could cause such serious physical changes. The new study aimed to explore this by examining how these emotions affect the health of blood vessels.
The study involved 280 healthy young adults who had no history of heart disease or other serious conditions. These participants were gathered from around Columbia’s medical center and were asked to take part in a series of tasks designed to evoke different emotions.
In a controlled laboratory environment, the participants first relaxed for 30 minutes. During this time, their blood pressure and heart rate were measured.
The researchers also assessed the health of endothelial cells, which line the inside of blood vessels and are key indicators of vascular health.
Participants were then given different tasks intended to provoke specific emotions. For instance, one group was asked to remember and speak about personal experiences that made them angry.
Other groups were tasked with recalling anxious or sad memories, while a control group performed a neutral task like counting aloud.
After these emotion-evoking tasks, the researchers measured how well the participants’ blood vessels could dilate. They found that the group who recalled angry memories had a significantly reduced ability to dilate their blood vessels.
This reduction was more than half compared to the neutral group and was most noticeable 40 minutes after the task.
Although the effects were temporary, and vessel function returned to normal afterwards, Dr. Shimbo pointed out the potential long-term risks.
He suggested that repeated episodes of anger over a person’s lifetime could cause lasting damage to the blood vessels.
Interestingly, the study found that anxiety and sadness did not have the same effect on blood vessel function as anger, which was unexpected. This suggests that different negative emotions may impact heart health in different ways.
Dr. Suzanne Arnold, a cardiologist not involved in the study, commented on the significance of these findings. She noted that while it’s well known that anger can trigger heart attacks, the biological mechanisms were not fully understood.
Dr. Arnold also mentioned that further research should look at older individuals and those already suffering from heart conditions, as the effects in these groups might be more pronounced.
In summary, this study highlights the immediate impact of anger on heart health, suggesting that managing our emotions could be key to preventing heart disease.
It also opens up new questions about how different emotions affect our heart health in various ways, pointing to the need for more comprehensive studies in the future.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease, and coconut sugar could help reduce artery stiffness.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk, and results showing vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
The research findings can be found in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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