A?recent study?could make you believe twice about anger management. Apparently , expressing your feelings within an explosive manner could be harmful to our heart. But researchers say there is one significant reaction you can have to help-become more self-aware of your angry emotions.
The research published by PLOS ONE takes a closer consider the impact angry emotions have on your heart health. Among the lead authors for that study said they hope the information will cause more people being attuned to their angry emotions and do something about it.
“Awareness can completely change your emotional response. By being aware of anger, it’s more likely it won’t affect future events,” said study author Karim Kassam, PhD, at Carnegie Mellon University in an online statement.
As area of the new study, Kassam and his team asked 112 individuals to have a challenging math test, which can be frustrating for many.
Following the test, his team did something very worthwhile to evoke an angry emotional response in the groups by letting them know they did poorly and moved around an excessive amount of.
Having measured each group’s heart function before the test, researchers were able to obtain a good assessment of the participants’ heartbeat and emotional state after they received the negative feedback.
In one scenario, they allowed one group that received the negative feedback to take a quiz to access their feelings afterward. They discovered that this group had an average heartbeat increase of approximately eight-beats-per-minute.
But in a different scenario, they didn’t allow the other group that received the negative feedback to express their feelings whatsoever. ?In this group they saw a typical heart rate increase of approximately 16 bpm.
What performs this mean?
Emotions such as hostility and anger can trigger a “flight or fight response,” in which stress hormones accelerate your heartbeat and breathing. These emotions also cause your blood pressure level to rise as the arteries constrict-very much like what researchers found happened in every group.
However the big difference could be that the heartbeat for individuals who were conscious of their anger and permitted to express it in a reasonable way (in this case using a quiz) was indeed less. Thus, they concluded that the research shows that self-awareness of psychological processes can alter the way the heart responds to a situation.
“Being aware of your emotional response is a good thing. It affects people’s decisions, whether they are aware of it or otherwise,” Kassam noted.
Keeping the center Healthy
Dr. Vincent Bufalino, v . p . of cardiovascular services at?Advocate Health Care, says he hopes the report raises awareness concerning the need to make a heart healthy way of life important.
“Some from the simplest changes may benefit our hearts in major ways,” said Dr. Bufalino. “Taking steps to reduce anxiety in addition to incorporating healthy workout, minimizing your salt-intake and avoiding smoking can go a long way to maintain your heart fit.”
Dr. Apoor Gami, cardiologist with Advocate Medical Group?– Midwest Heart Specialists, adds that ?“knowing your numbers”?is essential to understand what your location is in regards to risks for heart disease.?He states the numbers you should know are:
- Fasting blood sugar levels and Hgb A1C (hemoglobin)?to measure diabetes risk
- Total cholesterol, LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol) and triglyceride levels
- Blood pressure
- Weight (or body mass index)
“Taking proper measures to?reach and mantain your “numbers”?is really a goal to create to be able to?help prevent heart attacks and strokes,” Gami says. “Reduce serving sizes at meals,?maintain an aerobic fitness exercise program,?get a good night’s sleep and stay positive and optimistic.”