The expression “anger kills” can have a literal meaning. A new study, recently published in the scientific journal Journal of the American Heart Association, showed that a brief episode of anger is enough to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke for up to 40 minutes after the episode.
Previous work has shown that impairing the ability of blood vessels to relax may increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis, which may, in turn, be associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. The new study found that a brief episode of anger, triggered by the memory of past experiences, can negatively impact this ability of blood vessels to relax.
“Impaired vascular function is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke,” said lead author Daichi Shimbo, MD, professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. in a statement.
“Observational studies have linked feelings of negative emotions with heart attacks or other cardiovascular disease events. The most common negative emotion studied is anger, and there are fewer studies on anxiety and sadness, which have also been linked to heart attack risk.”
Anger, sadness and anxiety
In the new study, researchers looked at whether negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and anxiety, can have an adverse impact on blood vessel function compared to a neutral emotion. The 280 adult participants were randomly assigned to one of four emotional tasks for 8 minutes: recalling a personal memory that made them angry; recall a personal memory of anxiety; read a series of depressing sentences that evoked sadness; or repeatedly count to 100 to induce an emotionally neutral state.
The researchers evaluated the cells lining blood vessels looking for evidence of impaired blood vessel dilation, increased cellular injury, and/or reduced cellular repair capacity. Measurements were taken at various times: at the beginning of the study (0 minutes) and at four different times after experiencing the assigned emotional task: 3 minutes, 40 minutes, 70 minutes and 100 minutes.
The results showed that tasks that recalled past events that caused anger led to an impairment in blood vessel dilation, from zero to 40 minutes after the task. The deficiency was no longer present after the 40 minute mark.
There were no statistically significant changes in the lining of participants’ blood vessels at any time after experiencing the emotional anxiety and sadness tasks.
“We saw that evoking a state of anger led to blood vessel dysfunction, although we still don’t understand what might cause these changes,” Shimbo said. “Investigating the underlying links between anger and blood vessel dysfunction may help identify effective intervention targets for people at increased risk of cardiovascular events.”
American Heart Association
According to a 2021 American Heart Association scientific statement, mental well-being can positively or negatively impact a person’s health and risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
“This study adds greatly to the growing evidence base that mental well-being can affect cardiovascular health and that intense acute emotional states, such as anger or stress, can lead to cardiovascular events,” said Glenn Levine, MD, chairman of the statement. scientist, master clinician and professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of the cardiology section at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, both in Houston.
“For example, we know that intense sadness or similar emotions are a common trigger for Takatsubo cardiomyopathy, and events such as earthquakes or even a fan watching a world football match, which cause stress, can lead to myocardial infarction and/or to arrhythmias. This current study very eloquently shows how anger can negatively impact the health and function of the vascular endothelium, and we know that the vascular endothelium, the lining of blood vessels, is a key player in myocardial ischemia and disease. Although not all of the mechanisms underlying the psychological states and impact on cardiovascular health have been elucidated, this study clearly takes us one step closer to defining such mechanisms,” he adds.
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