A study with 280 participants confirmed that short episodes of anger can increase the chances of heart attacks and strokes
Who has never heard someone say that in a moment of anger they would have a heart attack? You’ve probably already said it yourself. Despite the joking tone, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association confirmed that brief episodes of anger can actually increase the chances of heart attacks and strokes.
The statement is justified by the blood vessel dysfunctions that occur immediately after a moment of anger. According to the study, on a smaller scale, anxiety and sadness were also associated with heart attack risk.
Study confirms: anger increases the chances of heart attack
For the study, an experiment was conducted with 280 participants. They were randomly divided into four groups with pre-established emotional tasks lasting 8 minutes.
A group would recall personal memories of a moment of anger. The second, personal memories of situations that generated anxiety. The third was reading a series of depressing sentences that evoked sadness. And the last one should repeatedly count to 100 to reach an emotionally neutral state.
Blood vessel measurements were taken at five different time points: before the start of the activities and subsequently, 3 minutes, 40 minutes, 70 minutes and 100 minutes after the start of the scheduled activities.
For this, a device was used that analyzes the structure of the vessels located on the fingertips, something similar to the structure of an oximeter. The researchers’ goal was to look for evidence of reduced dilation of these blood vessels, increased cell damage, and reduced cell repair capacity.
After analysis, participants who recalled moments of anger had a loss of vessel dilation between the start of the task and the following 40 minutes. After this period there were no signs of change. During monitoring the other groups showed no significant changes in the lining of their blood vessels.
“We have seen that evoking a state of anger leads to vessel dysfunction, although we still don’t understand what can cause these changes. […] Investigating the underlying links between anger and blood vessel dysfunction may help identify effective intervention targets for people at increased risk of cardiovascular events.”concluded the study author, Daichi Shimboprofessor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Relationship between mental and vascular health
From this experiment it was concluded that mental well-being has a positive or negative impact on a person’s health and, consequently, is linked to risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
“This study adds much to the growing evidence base that mental well-being can influence cardiovascular health and that acute and intense emotional states, such as anger and stress, can lead to cardiovascular events.”He said Glenn Levinechair of scientific dissertations, senior physician and professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and section chief of cardiology at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, both in Houston.
“We know that intense sadness or similar emotions are a common trigger for Takatsubo cardiomyopathy [síndrome do coração partido]and events such as earthquakes or even a fan watching a world football match, which cause stress, can lead to myocardial infarction and/or arrhythmias”Levine continued.
“Although not all mechanisms relating to the impact of psychological and health states on cardiovascular health have been elucidated, this study clearly takes us one step closer to defining such mechanisms.”he concluded.
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
