A new study suggests that angry people are more likely to die sooner.
Before you even get angry next time, take a deep breath and try to relax.
Using more than three decades of population data, researchers found that men who had admitted they had a short fuse when questioned around the age of 35 were more likely to be dead 35 years later than those who were less quick to anger.
Those who were among the angriest 25 per cent had a 1.57fold increase in their risk of dying early compared to the calmest 25 per cent, the researchers from Iowa State University discovered. The relationship remained robust after taking into account factors such as income, marital status and whether or not they smoked, they wrote in the journal Social Science & Medicine.Although the researchers were not investigating why the angriest were more likely to die earlier, they said previous studies had `linked anger with a variety of negative physiological processes’.
These include atherosclerosis -where arter ies become clogged up by fatty substances known as plaques -and can lead to `serious and potentially fatal health events such as heart attack’ the researchers said.“This suggests that the embodiment of trait anger in physiological processes may be responsible for the observed association between anger and mortality,“ they wrote. For the study, the researchers used data from a nationally representative sample of 1,307 male heads of the household who had been followed from 1968 until 2007. Between 1968 and 1972 the men had been questioned annually about their anger levels: whether they `get angry fairly easily’ or whether it `takes a lot to get them angry’ and each man’s score was averaged for the five years. The men were aged between 20 and 40 when first questioned, with an average age in 1972 of 34 and a half.Chartered psychologist Graham Price, who treats people with anger issues, said, “People who are quick to become angry have developed exaggerated unconscious beliefs about injustice that may have been triggered by past negative experiences and have almost certainly been reinforced by excessive expression of anger over a long period. The way to unwind such beliefs is to accept feelings of anger, using mindfulness tools, and then withhold expressing the anger.“He added, “Anger is a form of stress and stress increases cortisol levels in the bloodstream.Studies have shown that if anger or other forms of stress are maintained over long periods, negative health impacts can result, including developing IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) or increased strokes, heart attacks and other cardiac problems.’
It’s also important to distinguish between types of anger, according to psychotherapist Hilda Burke. Personal anger -such as that caused by being let go from work without compensation – can be useful as it can propel us to confront the issue, and fight for a severance package, for example. But when it comes to impersonal anger – the ‘blind rage we feel when we’ve been cut off in traffic’ – it’s simply not worth the fight.
“One of the calming techniques I practice with my clients is just to focus on their breathing -when the anger flares up, notice it, acknowledge it, then step back from it and try to focus on the inhale and exhale of the breath.“
Psychologist Dr Becky Spelman said there are many practical things that we can each do to manage our anger levels. ‘Take the time to consider the things in your life that you can be appreciative of -write them down and picture each clearly in your mind, ideally when you first wake up,’ she said. ‘Visualise what you really want from your life. Hold on to this vision tightly and whenever you feel frustrated come back to the visualisation and do not let go of this. This will calm you down even when you feel the rage building. It is proven that creative pursuits are an excellent way to increase calmness and wellbeing, so find a hobby or class in a creative pastime and paint, sculpt or design that anger away. And generally speaking, the least healthy people tend to be the angriest, as fitness and diet make a huge difference to our self-esteem, which is where our anger usually comes from.’
So, find a fitness type that you enjoy and do it at least three times per week, whilst reducing sugary and processed foods from your diet, including alcohol.
