Feeling intense and frequent anger (especially when it outsizes the trigger) can have consequences on your physical and mental well-being.
Anger is not only an uncomfortable feeling, but spending too long being angry can have ill effects on your health.
When anger experiences are too frequent, too intense, last too long, or are out of proportion to the triggering event, the emotion can have problematic effects on our well-being and our health, according to Raymond Chip Tafrate, PhD, a clinical psychologist and professor at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.
“Anger is part of the fight, freeze, or flight response in which the adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol,” explains Dr. Tafrate.
RELATED: How Stress Affects the Body
While this stress response system in our body has evolved to protect us, in most cases, we don’t need that extra energy boost to deal with whatever is causing our anger (unexpected traffic, a child acting up, or a terse email from a coworker).
And chronic activation of stress hormones leads to serious physical and mental illnesses. Here are some health effects of anger to know about:
Anger also impacts people with arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), according to Rachel Lampert, MD, the director of the Sports Cardiology Program at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
Evidence also suggests that anger is specifically linked to higher risk of heart attacks.
RELATED: What Are the Symptoms of a Heart Attack?
But that can be disturbed when the body goes into fight-or-flight mode, as can happen in response to stress.
RELATED: Signs of an Unhealthy Gut — and What You Can Do About It
“Our anger reactions can cause harm to our most important relationships,” Tafrate said. Humans are social creatures, and we need social connections to thrive. “Anger can set the stage for nasty verbal rants or even violent behavior.”
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Anger isn’t just a fleeting feeling — it affects your body and mind in serious ways. Chronic anger can increase your risk of heart disease, disrupt digestion, and negatively impact mental health and sleep. Finding healthy ways to manage your anger can significantly improve your overall well-being.
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Allison Young, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist providing services via telehealth throughout New York and Florida.
In addition to her private practice, Dr. Young serves as an affiliate professor of psychiatry at Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. She previously taught and mentored medical trainees at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She speaks at national conferences and has published scientific articles on a variety of mental health topics, most notably on the use of evidence-based lifestyle interventions in mental health care.
Young graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a bachelor of science degree in neurobiology and theology. She obtained her doctor of medicine degree with honors in neuroscience and physiology from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She continued her training at NYU during her psychiatry residency, when she was among a small group selected to be part of the residency researcher program and studied novel ways to assess and treat mental distress, with a focus on anxiety, trauma, and grief.
During her psychiatry training, Young sought additional training in women’s mental health and cognitive behavioral therapy. She has also studied and completed further training in evidence-based lifestyle interventions in mental health care, including stress management, exercise, and nutrition. She is an active member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, through which she helps create resources as well as educate physicians and patients on the intersection of lifestyle medicine and mental health.
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