The next time a cold caller or a traffic jam makes your blood boil, take a deep breath and try to relax.
Because anger can really kill you, American scientists warned today.
Researchers found that brief moments of anger can affect the function of blood vessels, potentially increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke by as much as 40 minutes.
Dr. Daichi Shimbo, study author and professor of medicine at Columbia University, said: ‘We saw that inducing an angry state led to blood vessel dysfunction.
‘Although we do not yet understand what can cause these changes.’
While some warning signs are easy to spot, such as severe chest pain, others are vaguer and harder to pinpoint
Symptoms of a stroke are commonly remembered by this four-letter acronym, FAST. Stroke patients may often have their faces droop to one side, have difficulty lifting both arms and may have slurred speech, while time is of the essence as immediate treatment of a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke can significantly reduce the risk of stroke. a much deadlier major stroke
Researchers described this effect as a ‘disorder in the dilation of blood vessels’.
An interrupted blood supply can theoretically lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Researchers analyzed data from an average of 280 volunteers aged 26 years.
The participants were all instructed to relax for 30 minutes, during which they were not allowed to talk, use their phones, read or sleep.
A blood pressure reading was taken before everyone was randomly assigned one of four eight-minute tasks.
One oneasked them to recall a personal memory that made them angry.
Others had volunteers recall a moment of fear, or read a series of depressing sentences meant to evoke a feeling of sadness.
In a fourth, emotionally neutral task, participants had to repeatedly count to 100.
Measurements of blood pressure and vasodilation were taken after three minutes and again 40, 70 and 100 minutes later.
Blood samples were also taken to assess cell health.
The researchers found: ‘Tasks that evoked memories of past events that caused anger led to reduced blood vessel dilation, from zero to 40 minutes after the task.
‘The restriction was no longer present after 40 minutes.
‘There were no statistically significant changes in the participants’ blood vessels at any time after experiencing the emotional tasks of fear and sadness.’
Writing in the Journal of the American Heart AssociationHowever, researchers acknowledged the small size of the study.
They noted that it was “unclear whether the results would apply to older adults with other health problems, who would most likely be taking medications.”
Dr. Glenn Levine, a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who was not involved in the study, said: ‘This study adds nicely to the growing evidence base that mental well-being can influence cardiovascular health and that intense acute emotional states such as anger or stress, can lead to cardiovascular events.
‘For example, we know that intense sadness or similar emotions are a common trigger for Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (broken heart syndrome).
‘Events such as earthquakes, or even watching a football match as a fan, that cause stress can lead to a myocardial infarction (a heart attack) and/or cardiac arrhythmias.’
This graph shows the cardiovascular disease mortality rate among those aged 75 in England (blue bars), i.e. the number of deaths per 100,000 people and the pure number of deaths (red line). Medical breakthroughs and advanced screening techniques helped lower these numbers starting in 2004, but progress began to stall in the early 2010s before reversing in the last few years of data.
Other – just as common – signs of an impending stroke often fall under the radar. These include sudden numbness on one side of the body, sudden dizziness and difficulty swallowing
Earlier this year, alarming data showed that premature deaths from cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and strokes, have reached the highest level in more than a decade.
Rates of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among those under 75 had fallen since the 1960s thanks to plummeting smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthroughs such as stents and statins.
But rising obesity rates and the associated catalog of associated health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes are now believed to be one of the major contributing factors.
Slow ambulance response times for Category 2 calls in England – including suspected heart attacks and strokes – and long waits for tests and treatment are also responsible for the increase, which is also being felt by younger adults.
Despite claims from anti-vaxxers, cardiologists say fears that Covid vaccines could have fueled a rise in heart problems are far from the truth.