Flying into a rage ‘immediately damages blood vessels – raising your risk of heart attack and stroke’
FITS of fury can raise your death risk by damaging the heart and blood vessels, according to researchers.
It means keeping a cool head could help you live longer.
A study by Columbia University in New York found that cells in people’s blood vessels stopped working properly when they got angry about bad memories.
The cell damage can restrict blood flow, which may increase pressure on the heart and raise the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
It could also contribute to heart disease over the long term, they said.
Anxiety and sadness did not threaten the same health damage as rage, the researchers said in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Negative emotions linked to heart attacks
Study author Professor Daichi Shimbo said: “Other studies have linked feelings of negative emotions with having a heart attack or other cardiovascular events.
“We saw that evoking an angered state led to blood vessel dysfunction and impaired vascular function is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
“Investigation into the underlying links may help identify effective targets for intervention.”
The study had 280 participants go through one of four emotional tasks.
They either had to recall a personal memory that made them angry, recall a personal memory of anxiety, read a series of depressing sentences, or repeatedly count to 100 to induce a neutral state.
Meanwhile, scientists analysed the cells in people’s blood vessels to see how each emotion affected them.
They found that anger led to an impairment in blood vessel dilation for up to 40 minutes afterwards.
Prof Glenn Levine, of Baylor College of Medicine, said of the findings: “This study adds to the growing evidence base that mental wellbeing can affect cardiovascular health.”
Heart diseases are one of the UK’s top killers, behind only dementia in the most common causes of death.
More than seven million Brits have some kind of heart disease.
There are more than 100,000 hospital admissions every year for heart attacks and another 100,000 for strokes.
The best ways to keep your heart healthy are to eat a balanced diet, stay a healthy weight, exercise regularly and avoid smoking.
What are the symptoms of stroke?
The FAST method – which stands for Face, Arms, Speech, Time – is the easiest way to remember the most common symptoms of stroke:
F = Face drooping – if one side of a person’s face is dropped or numb then ask them to smile, if it’s uneven then you should seek help.
A = Arm weakness – if one arm is weak or numb then you should ask the person to raise both arms. If one arm drifts downwards then you might need to get help
S = Speech difficulty – if a person’s speech is slurred then this could be a sign of a stroke
T = Time to call 999 – if a person has the signs above then you need to call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US for emergency care.
Other symptoms include:
- sudden weakness or numbness on one side of the body
- difficulty finding words
- sudden blurred vision or loss of sight
- sudden confusion, dizziness or unsteadiness
- a sudden and severe headache
- difficulty understanding what others are saying
- difficulty swallowing