How Anger Affects Your Health – 8 Side Effects Of Anger

Have you ever experienced shaky hands, rapid breathing, and a racing heart amid a heated disagreement? That’s how your body reacts to rage naturally. Anger is a natural human emotion, but it may be dangerous when it gets out of control.

While occasional annoyance is unavoidable, persistent or severe anger can negatively impact your physical and emotional health. It puts your body in a heightened state of tension, causing a spike in stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline.

Unchecked rage can eventually lead to digestive problems, decreased immunity, elevated blood pressure, and a higher risk of heart disease.

Anger has an impact on mental health in addition to physical health, resulting in strained relationships, anxiety, and despair. This article will discuss the detrimental effects of rage on your health and the importance of appropriately controlling it for general well-being.

Read More: Why Your Anger Could Be More Dangerous Than You Think

How Anger Affects Your Health?

With the basics covered, it is time to delve into the complexities of why and how anger negatively affects health.

Anger is a powerful emotion, and it is important to handle it constructively to prevent any destructive results.

There are several ways in which we look at some of the time.

1. Risk to Heart Health

Anger causes the body to release stress chemicals, which, over time, may have a detrimental effect on heart health. Rage, even fleeting rage, as indicated by changes in facial expression, causes the heart to change, impairing its ability to pump blood. This can result in high blood pressure and its after-effects, such as metabolic syndrome, heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.

Rachel Lampert, MD, head of the Sports Cardiology Program at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, says anger also affects those who have arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats).

2. Mental and Emotional Health

Anger hurts our relationships and emotional health in addition to our physical health. People who suffer from persistent anger are more likely to act and speak aggressively, which can damage their relationships and make them feel isolated. Chronic social isolation and problems controlling one’s anger can lead to substance abuse or other unhealthy coping mechanisms, which can worsen related health conditions.

Chronic anger can increase the risk of mental health issues like personality disorders, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders, in addition to cardiovascular events and immunological difficulties.

Read More: 13 Ways To Release Anger – Harbor Healthy Outlets!

3. Disrupts Digestive Health

The “gut-brain connection,” the well-researched relationship between our emotions and our stomachs, may be familiar to you. Anger and fury, like other emotions, can cause gastrointestinal distress, food malabsorption, and appetite loss.

The gastrointestinal tract is controlled by nerves and composed of muscle tissue. This means the intestines and stomach will be hypermobile if your adrenaline output is exceptionally high. You will experience cramps and diarrhea due to the overactivation of those muscles.

4. Increases Risks of Stroke

Anger has been found to enhance the risks associated with stroke. For someone who is very angry and is having an outburst, chances are that they are at risk of developing a stroke that could result in a fatal death. Brain strokes are prevalent in people following their anger outbursts.

To cope positively with the situation, identify the trigger and work on eliminating the problem. Instead of bottling everything in, it is important to distance yourself and find better, more constructive ways to handle the issue.

5. Affects Sleep

Research shows that people who have trouble controlling their emotions or who feel angry more frequently sleep less. One study examined the relationship between middle-aged Korean men and women’s anger levels and sleep disruptions, including trouble falling and staying asleep.

The study found that adults with moderate-to-high levels of anger had a 40–70% higher probability of experiencing sleep disruptions. According to other studies, anger raises psychological arousal and mental instability, which in turn makes it harder to fall asleep.

Read More: How To Manage Anger? 15 Effective Ways to Handle Sudden Rage

6. Impairs Immune System

The condition of our immune system reflects our emotional state. The immune system considers stress and relaxation levels when reading indications requiring an immunological response. The feeling of pain, the release of inflammation, and the relief are closely related to emotion and the stress response.

Like stress, anger can negatively impact the immune system by suppressing immune cells, raising inflammatory expression, and encouraging an out-of-balance immunological response. These factors are linked to the development of autoimmune illnesses and inflammatory conditions and can increase an individual’s susceptibility to infections.

7. Reduces Life Span

Last but not least, when it comes to how anger affects your health, the idea of reducing your weight is still questionable and does not have a concrete scientific explanation behind it. Still, it has been found to impact an individual’s overall life span. The viable reason behind this is believed to be the effect on heart health and its impacts on an individual’s brain functioning.

How to Handle Anger?

Now that we understand how anger impacts your health, here are some tips to help you handle your own anger and its symptoms.

Some of the ways to handle anger include:

• Know what is triggering your anger. Knowing the reason behind what’s making you angry will make it much easier to handle the situation and resolve the problem.
• Distance yourself from the situation. If you find that the environment and people surrounding you are making your anger worse, separate yourself from the problem instead of staying there.
• When you’re upset, use a code word. For example, you could say this to let people or yourself know that you need some alone time before continuing. By doing this, you can avoid having to explain right away.
• Pay attention to your breathing. Take deep, deliberate breaths. Try using your mouth to exhale and your nose to breathe in. For some folks, counting while doing this is useful.
• Use a grounding device. When you’re feeling irritated, keep a tiny object close to your hand to grasp and concentrate on. For instance, you could use a piece of cloth, a stone, or a fidget toy.
• Get moving. Physical activity can lessen stress that can make you angry. If you see your anger rising, take a vigorous walk or run. Or engage in other pleasurable physical activities. As soon as you can think properly, express yourself for a while.
• Once you’re at ease, voice your worries. Express them in a straightforward yet aggressive manner as soon as you can think properly. Do not attempt to control or harm other people.

There are a plethora of explanations for how anger affects your health. To avoid experiencing the disadvantages of anger on your health, you must find healthy ways to handle and manage the problem without negatively impacting your overall well-being.

Read More: Mental Health Matters: Breaking the Stigma for Men

Conclusion

Anger is a normal feeling that arises when something seems unfair, frustrating, or unmanageable. Unchecked, though, it can negatively impact your emotional and physical health. The secret is to control your anger rather than repress it.

Deep breathing exercises, mindfulness exercises, or physical activities like yoga or exercise can transform anger into constructive energy. Other good ways to manage emotions include journaling, speaking with a trusted friend, or getting professional assistance.

Use your anger to motivate positive transformation and personal development rather than letting it rule your life. Anger management skills can enhance emotional intelligence, communication, and resilience.

• March 2019
  Written by Somapika D
• Feb 2025
  Edited by Ankita