Reference no: EM134011828

Assignment:

Anger is the one emotion that demands a fight, but giving in to it is about the worst thing a guy/gal can do. Hotheads who vent risk high blood pressure and heart damage.

For if there's anything recent research makes clear, it is that anger cannot be vented. On the contrary, letting off steam almost always leaves a person more steamed. In a series of experiments, Arron Siegman, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, compared blood pressure and heart rate readings in young, healthy students as they reenacted episodes of anger. "Simply experiencing the anger, thinking about it, doesn't elevate heart rate much at all," he says. "Nor does talking about the incident in a slow, calm voice." But once people begin talking fast and loud about infuriating scenes, their blood pressure jumped an average of 20 points. "In some, it went way up, by as much as 100 points," Siegman says. "Now, if that person were a heart disease patient seeing a cardiologist, the doctor would tell me to call an ambulance."

Revving a healthy heart in this way, and keeping it on high idle, can, over decades also end in an ambulance ride. Every angry outburst releases hormones that tighten arteries and hike blood pressure. In time, artery walls wear out in the same way that squeezing and pumping will wear out the inside of a garden hose. Worn artery walls, most doctors say, are prone to the scarring and fatty buildup that precedes heart disease. That's why emotional strain--anger, stress, hostility--are considered at least as powerful a risk factor for heart disease as diet or family history.

During this week be aware of the first time you feel anger:

1. Describe the situation that caused the anger.

2. Describe your physical feelings while angry.

3. What was the eventual outcome of your anger?