Managing anger

[sandra 0]

Hostility, anger may be bad for male heart

 

By VIRGINIA ANDERSON

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/24/04

 

 

Picture this: A man is losing his temper. He's screaming and turning red-faced. His eyes bulge, his forehead drips sweat.

 

Or maybe he's in the corner brooding, feeling a little hostile. He thinks he's smarter than the people he works with. He never gets the recognition he thinks he deserves.

 

Both displays of emotions — anger and hostility — may put men at risk of a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, a recent study of about 1,800 men suggests.

 

Atrial fibrillation, in which the heart beats irregularly and too fast, plagues 2 million Americans. It can lead to stroke and heart failure; about 15 percent of people who suffer strokes have atrial fibrillation.

 

The study, published in March in Circulation, is significant not only because it shows a possible risk factor for stroke, but also because it adds to research that shows emotions and how people handle them can put them at risk for major illnesses. The findings suggest that losing your temper might hurt yourself more than others, the study's lead author said.

 

"Expressing anger in a highly dysfunctional way is detrimental to your health," said Elaine D. Eaker of Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises in Chili, Wis.

 

The primary danger of the irregular, fast heartbeat of atrial fibrillation is a pooling of blood in the atria, the two small upper chambers of the heart. That can lead to clotting and possibly stroke.

 

Yet atrial fibrillation is also a danger because it can stretch the fibers of the heart, explained Dr. John Beshai, a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Emory University. Much as the extra movement of muscles in a gym causes targeted muscles to grow, the extra movement in the heart muscle caused by atrial fibrillation causes the heart to stretch.

 

"That stretch over time can create changes," said Beshai. "The [heart] muscle gets thicker because you're working it."

 

Big muscles might be coveted in some areas, but a large heart is not good. It can upset the heart's rhythm and raise blood pressure. The outcomes can vary from what Beshai calls "nuisance arrhythmia," or simply the uncomfortable feeling of one's heart pumping erratically, to, in rare cases, death.

 

"It can precipitate heart failure," Beshai said.

 

Treatment has typically included medication, such as beta blockers, or electrical shock to jolt the heart back into proper rhythm.

 

While atrial fibrillation typically has been a malady of old age, doctors have seen a disturbing increase in the condition in younger men and women. A study published last year in Circulation predicted that the condition will be a "staggering burden" on public health and patients' quality of life if doctors and patients do not act to curb the trend.

 

The number of hospitalizations in which the condition was listed as the first diagnosis among people 35 and older increased 144 percent from 154,086 in 1985 to 376,487 in 1999, according to the analysis of hospital discharge records. The number of hospitalizations in which atrial fibrillation was listed as a diagnosis jumped 190 percent from 787,750 to almost 2.3 million in the same 15-year period.

 

The recent study was an analysis of 1,769 men and 1,913 adult children and their spouses from the original participants in the Framingham Heart Study, begun in 1948. The participants completed psychological surveys when their average age was 48.5, and they had no sign of heart disease. They were then followed for 10 years.

 

Hostility, defined for the study as having a generally contemptuous attitude toward others, defensiveness and feelings that others take credit for things you have done, may affect atrial fibrillation more than anger, the study suggests. Men with higher feelings of hostility were 30 percent more likely to develop the condition, while men who scored high in anger had a 10 percent higher risk for developing atrial fibrillation than men without increased anger. Researchers aren't sure how the feelings cause the physiological changes.

 

The study showed no increased risk of atrial fibrillation for men who rated high on Type A behavior, typically actions that show time urgency and competitiveness rather than anger and hostility.

 

It also showed no increased risk of atrial fibrillation for women who feel angry or hostile. That could be because women and men do not express anger the same way, Eaker said.

 

Heredity, a history of scarlet fever and an alcohol overdose also can be contributing factors in atrial fibrillation.

 

Because the study did not address treatments, researchers need to follow up on Eaker's study to determine whether treatment for anger and hostility might lower the risk among men who have anger and hostility, she said.

 

"From a scientific standpoint, we cannot conclude that if you control your anger, you reduce your risk," Eaker said. "We can't go out on that limb."

 

Eaker did say, however, that counseling for anger and hostility is "certainly not going to be bad" if the displays of those emotions are detrimental to your health.

 

[sandra 0]

Hiding emotions 'increases anger'

 

New research has revealed that women who suppress their emotions can be left with even more angry feelings.

The study by the University of Aberdeen looked at what happened when women deliberately concealed their anger.

 

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the investigation was conducted using three studies of male and female participants.

 

"The results showed that the women in the study who had suppressed their anger reported feeling more angry, outraged, upset and disgusted than their male counterparts," said Dr Judith Hosie, co-author of the report.

 

During the study the male and female participants were shown two emotional film clips.

 

One group were invited to express feelings of anger whilst others were told to suppress any feelings.

 

A third group were asked to switch any angry feelings with a happy memory.

 

Swearing

 

They were all then shown a second emotional film and allowed to respond spontaneously.

 

When they did the women who had suppressed their emotions gave their feelings as being stronger, more angry and more upset.

 

Many of these women said they felt more like swearing than males.

 

And one of the key findings was the evidence of a "rebound" effect for emotion.

 

"The subjective intensity of anger was increased in women by suppressing the expression of that anger," explained Dr Hosie.

 

Health problems

 

She said women in many cultures were under pressure to conceal their anger - leaving them more able to develop other strategies for regulating the emotion.

 

Research also reflected that women benefit more than men from having anger substitution, rather than quashing their feelings.

 

Psychologist Sandi Mann of the University of Central Lancashire, said concealing angry emotions - in both males and females - can have a bad effect on a person's overall health.

 

"A lot of emotion is suppressed and the most common one is anger," she said.

 

"Most would argue suppressing anger is bad for you and can lead to raised blood pressure and other associated problems, but actually expressing anger can also be bad for you."

 

The best solution is to express the anger, but in a "healthy" way, she advised.

 

"Having a shouting match is not a good idea but it might be that writing something down is just as effective.

 

"But each person needs to find their own way of coping with anger - exercise can also be a positive way to work off anger."

 

---

May i suggest chanting? =)

 

 

 

 

[theist 1]

 

The findings suggest that losing your temper might hurt yourself more than others, the study's lead author said.

 

 

Hurt's me more than them?! Now that really pisses me off!! /images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

 

 

TRANSLATION 16.21

There are three gates leading to this hell—lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul. -Bhagavad-gita

[livingentity 0]

thank you very much...I manage to get pissed off on a daily basis!!! /images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

 

grrrr...and now I am pissed off cuz you got pissed off...grrrr... /images/graemlins/mad.gif..... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

Hurt's me more than them?! Now that really pisses me off!!

 

 

[theist 1]

 

....I manage to get pissed off on a daily basis!!!

 

 

Hey I like that. I can do that. I do do that in fact. I guess I don't have a problem after all.

 

 

grrrr...and now I am pissed off cuz you got pissed off...grrrr... .....

 

 

Hey don't get mad at me just because you were too slow...get mad at yourself. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

Anger is such a poisonous thing. I've heard its even destructive to the liver. I don't know but it so leaves one feeling nasty,frustrated and alone.

 

There are those caes when anger is proper. Arjuna on the battlefield, but i have often used that as an excuse just to dump on someone I disagreed with. Gotta deal with that before it deals with me.

 

[livingentity 0]

There is such a thing as righteous anger and somewhere Srila Prabhupada touches on this topic. I will try to find it later.

 

Of course, every time I get angry I feel it is righteous! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Guest guest]

Anger is okay when defending Lord Krishna & His devotees.

[Guest guest]

I AM NOT ANGRY!!!!!! you want to see angry !!!!! i show you angry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!