Anger is one sluggish emotion

[Liar]

So, that rant you let out last Tuesday is still in the back of your head, affecting your health. Getting pissed off is apparently more dangerouns than one thought.

Maybe it pays off to be either totally Zen about life, or to not care enough to be upset.

(Oh btw, hooray for a gramatically correct headline. They're rare these days.)

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Effects of anger last at least a week, study shows
By Roger Dobson
Published: 11 November 2007

Heather Mills needs to calm down. Outbursts like her infamous rant on GMTV may still be having an adverse effect on her health a week later, according to scientists.

New research shows that blood pressure increases during a bout of anger and that it still rises seven days later when the row is remembered. "Even after a week, there is no sign of any reduction of the effect,'' say researchers, who report their findings in the International Journal of Psychophysiology this week.

Anger has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and other health problems. Research suggests that hardening of the arteries seems to advance faster in people who score high in anger and hostility tests.

One theory is that stress hormones constrict blood vessels, raise blood pressure and speed up the heartbeat. It had been thought that these effects would disappear when the row was over.

Researchers at the University of California and Columbia University looked at longer-term effects of anger triggered during a laboratory experiment with volunteers. "If cardiovascular responses are damaging to the cardiovascular system, then stressful events have the potential to continue to do harm long after they are ended."

 

[Liar]

Oh, I just had an ephiphany. This must be why Monday morning happens once a week. It's a fucking conspiracy to kill me, that's what it is.

 

[rgraham666]

But anger is such a great high few people are willing to give it up.

Worse, in some circles these days anger is a sign of good character, the way 'two fisted' drinking used to be.

 

[cantdog]

one sluggish emotion

I was imagining forth these twisting clumps of enraged slugs.

Anger is hooked into the epi/nor-epi endocrine system which readies the body for battle or flight. Being civilized, we tend to interrupt that reaction, at the expense of our cardiovascular system. I still advocate civilized behavior, all the same. Even though a person who needs anger to do something violent may be less scary than a dispassionately violent man.

 

[Stella_Omega]

But anger is such a great high few people are willing to give it up.

Worse, in some circles these days anger is a sign of good character, the way 'two fisted' drinking used to be.

Or they think it means "Honesty."

I know that anger lasts a long time, and feeds on itself-- I witness it in myself, and people around me...