Study reveals how anger can increase heart attack, stroke risk

Health

By Tracy Swartz

For the sake of your blood vessels, don’t B negative.

Blowing a fuse after recalling a stressful experience may temporarily impair your blood vessels’ ability to relax, which is essential for proper blood flow, according to a study published Wednesday.

Two-hundred eighty NYC-area adults were directed to complete one of four emotional tasks for eight minutes — summoning a memory that made them angry; remembering something that made them anxious; reading a series of depressing sentences that made them sad; or repeatedly counting to 100 to induce an “emotionally neutral state.”

Researchers assessed the cells lining each participant’s blood vessels before the tasks and four times after them.

Recalling an infuriating event impaired blood vessel dilation for up to 40 minutes — dilation increases blood flow.

There weren’t statistically significant changes to participants’ blood vessel linings after they completed the anxiety and sadness tasks.

“We saw that evoking an angered state led to blood vessel dysfunction, though we don’t yet understand what may cause these changes,” said lead study author Dr. Daichi Shimbo, a professor of medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Washington Heights.

“Investigation into the underlying links between anger and blood vessel dysfunction may help identify effective intervention targets for people at increased risk of cardiovascular events,” Shimbo added.

Studies have shown that mental well-being can positively or negatively affect a person’s health and risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

Heart attacks and strokes typically occur when blood flow to the heart or brain is blocked, respectively.

They are quite common. Someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the US, and an American dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association.

The AHA also reports that omeone has a stroke every 40 seconds in the US, and an American dies every 3 minutes and 14 seconds from one.

Dr. Holly Middlekauff, a cardiologist and a professor of medicine and physiology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, told NBC News that findings from this study may encourage people who have heart disease and trouble with rage to manage their anger through yoga, exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy or other methods.

“It’s not widely known or widely accepted that anger does precipitate heart attacks,” said Middlekauff, who wasn’t involved with the research. “This study offers a biological plausibility to that theory, that anger is bad for you, that it raises your blood pressure, that we’re seeing impaired vascular health.”

The research — published in the Journal of the American Heart Association — did have some limitations.

Participants were not observed in real-world situations or over a long period after their emotions were stirred.

Also, the average age of participants was 26, “making it unclear whether the results would apply to older adults with other health conditions, who would most likely be taking medications,” Shimbo said.