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Uncle Li is 68 years old this year, he suffers from high blood pressure, and he has been taking antihypertensive drugs to control his blood pressure, but some time ago, accompanied by his daughter, he went to the hospital for a follow-up examination and found that his blood pressure still has no tendency to decrease.
During the doctor's consultation, Uncle Li's daughter made it clear that Uncle Li not only had symptoms of high blood pressure, but also got angry easily, and I didn't know if it was caused by high blood pressure.
In response to Uncle Li's situation, the doctor said that Uncle Li's emotional state of being prone to tantrums may be the main reason why blood pressure has been high and difficult to control, after all, anger is also one of the main factors that harm cardiovascular disease.
1. Columbia University research: anger may damage blood vessel function and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke
Anger is one of the most common negative emotions, and it has been proven in some early studies that anger can have a negative effect on physical health, especially increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
In response to negative emotions and why they increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, in May 2024, researchers from Columbia University in the United States published a paper in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which said:
• When the human body is angry, it can damage endothelium-dependent vasodilation, which adversely affects endothelial cell health.
This means that vasodilation affects blood flow, and if vasodilation is disrupted, the risk of diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke and other diseases may increase.
In the course of the experiment, the researchers conducted a randomized controlled study in which 280 adult participants experienced different emotional states for 8 minutes to analyze the impact of negative emotions on the health of vascular endothelial cells.
Then, after collecting the data, the researchers found that in four different conditions, the body is more likely to cause damage to the ability to dilate blood vessels, and although the damage only lasts for 40 minutes, it can also cause irreversible damage to the body.
This result once again proves that this emotion can affect the function of blood vessels, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and cause great harm to vascular health.
Although we still don't know why anger can cause so much damage to blood vessels, timely detection of the correlation between emotions and cardiovascular risk can help us prevent cardiovascular diseases more effectively and effectively intervene in key populations.
Second, anger is very harmful, and these body parts may be deeply harmed
In traditional Chinese medicine, there has always been a saying that anger and worrying may cause harm to your health, while in modern medicine, it is believed that anger is more harmful to your physical health, and these body organs may be more affected by physical emotions.
1. Heart
Anger has a big impact on heart health, when people are in an angry mood, adrenal hormones will suddenly spike, and norepinephrone secretion will also increase. In response to the sudden excitement, many blood vessels, including the coronary arteries, constrict and reduce blood supply.
If the blood supply to the heart is suddenly reduced, it is easy to cause the problem of ischemia and hypoxia in the heart, which will lead to angina pectoris and myocardial infarction, which is the main reason why many people will be angry to the point of "heart pain".
For example, after retirement, Uncle Zhang, although he has no pressure at work, but his grandson and the children of relatives need him and his wife to take care of, and the pressure becomes greater and greater over time, and he himself often gets angry because of some trivial things, and he feels chest tightness and shortness of breath after getting angry.
Until one day, when he was taking care of the child at home, he suddenly felt unbearable chest pain and was rushed to the hospital, and after examination, the doctor told him that he had coronary heart disease, and the long-term anger and anger in the past may be the "culprit" that caused his heart problems.
In fact, many people don't know that when we are angry, the heart will be under tremendous pressure, which will cause the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise, and in the long run, the heart muscle will gradually become hypertrophied, and the blood vessels will become narrow, which may cause heart diseases such as coronary heart disease.
In addition, being easily angry and short-tempered is also one of the signs of a heart attack. In many cases of heart disease, although there are no other symptoms, there will be a change in temper, and suddenly become easily angry and impatient, which is a precursor to heart disease.
This risk may be more common in the elderly in their fifties and sixties.
2. Gastrointestinal function
Anger can easily lead to gastrointestinal disorders. When the body is in a state of anger, the stomach is also affected.
This is because more blood influxes to other directions, which will lead to a large reduction in blood flow in the stomach, gastrointestinal function due to lack of water and cannot function normally, gastrointestinal peristalsis is difficult, gastrointestinal tract cannot work normally, and digestion ability is greatly reduced.
At this time, the function of the gastrointestinal tract is disordered, and the human body will also have symptoms such as loss of appetite and stomach ulcers.
Let's take an example, Lele is an only child, he has been cared for and loved by the whole family since he was a child, and his temper is also a little willful, whenever something does not go his way, he will be angry, especially because of unsatisfactory test results, and the more he thinks about it, the more angry he becomes.
However, some time ago, he and his mother said that he often had stomach pain, stomach bloating, and his appetite was not good when eating, and the doctor told him that this was related to his long-term anger and emotional instability, because Lele had chronic gastritis.
This may be because, if we are like Lele, when we are angry, our body will secrete a large amount of stomach acid, which will erode the gastric mucosa, causing damage to the gastric mucosa, which will cause symptoms such as stomach pain and bloating.
In addition, long-term anger will also affect the peristalsis function of the gastrointestinal tract, leading to indigestion, loss of appetite and other problems, so we recommend that for the elderly or children, usually control their emotions, especially negative emotions, and do not be too sad or too angry.
3.肝脏
There has been a study that when people are angry, the liver will suddenly grow a circle, and this is also the main reason for the increased risk of liver disease and liver cirrhosis.
For example, Aunt Zhang has an irritable personality and is easy to get angry, recently she found that she often felt bitter mouth, dry throat, and dizziness, and after going to the hospital for examination, she learned that her liver function was abnormal, and the doctor told her that this may be due to the stagnation of liver qi caused by long-term anger, which in turn affected the normal function of the liver.
First of all, let's look at this example, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, anger will hurt the liver and when angry, liver qi stagnation, which will lead to abnormal liver excretion function, and then cause a series of liver problems, such as Aunt Zhang's bitter mouth, dry throat, dizziness, etc.
At the same time, in the view of traditional Chinese medicine, anger is easy to hurt the liver because anger will lead to liver qi stagnation, liver and gallbladder disharmony, many people will also experience pain in the ribs after anger, and this may be one of the important manifestations of liver damage.
3. Being angry hurts the body, and when we are angry, we may be able to do this
Qi hurts the body, not to mention that anger can also cause adverse effects on various organs of the body, so it is indeed important to control emotions and reduce the frequency of anger, but after getting angry, how can we quickly calm down our emotions and reduce the adverse effects?
1. Take a deep breath
When angry, people's emotions will become very excited, and the surge of adrenal hormones will make people in a state of excitement, at this time, the heart rate will increase and blood pressure will rise, so it is easier to affect the body.
At this time, it is a good choice to take a deep breath. Deep breathing calms the body more quickly and reduces the level of excitement.
When we are angry and angry, the most important thing is to calm down and then deal with the problem, only by becoming more peaceful can we prevent us from making wrong decisions impulsively, and can also prevent the physical harm caused by emotions such as anger.
2. Take a walk
Walking is also one of the important ways to soothe your emotions and release your anger.
In the process of walking, we will increase the intake of oxygen, walking itself is an aerobic exercise, oxygen will enter the body more, so that our heart rate will slowly decrease, adrenal hormones will slowly subside, in this process, emotions will be calmed, physical damage will naturally be reduced.
3. Press the Taichong acupoint
According to traditional Chinese medicine, people who are easily angry and unable to control their emotions are caused by too much liver fire, and if you want to reduce the frequency of anger, the most important thing is to relieve fire. When you are angry, the liver fire and anger in the human body will go along the "liver meridian".
The Taichong acupoint is a necessary acupuncture point of the liver meridian, and when you are angry, you can press the Taichong acupoint appropriately to relieve anger.
There is also a theory of traditional Chinese medicine that the Taichong acupoint often regulates the overall qi and blood of the liver meridian, and when it is in a state of anger, the Taichong acupoint will also be affected, and there will even be pain. At this time, pressing the acupuncture points can effectively relieve anger and release bad emotions.
In this way, it can not only achieve the purpose of protecting the liver, but also alleviate unfavorable emotions.
Moreover, proper massage of Taichong acupoint can not only soothe emotions and protect the liver, but also help us sleep better. At the same time, the correct massage of the Taichong acupoint can also relieve symptoms such as headache, vomiting, dizziness, etc., and even regulate qi and blood.
All in all, whether from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine or modern medicine, the harm of anger to human health has been confirmed, and most modern people are in a sub-health state, not only because of people's bad living habits, but also because of the frequent occurrence of various emotional diseases, which has a greater or lesser impact on the body.
Whether it's anger, worry, or other negative emotions, it is easy to take a toll on the body, so staying calm and minimizing mood changes may help us live healthier lives.
Bibliography:
[1] Don't do these things when you are angry[J].Everyone Health,2015(15):74.)
[2] Zhu Dezhen. Jiangsu Health Care,2021(05):1.
[3] Juanzi. Every time you get angry, it's an earthquake to your body! Popular Science,2019(12):48-51.DOI:10.16611/j.cnki.52-1049/n.2019.12.012.