Negative emotions are generally considered to be harmful to health, but one emotion in particular seems to be especially so.
This is, at least, according to US researchers, who say brief episodes of anger may alter the functioning of blood vessels – an anomaly that, in turn, is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The experts looked specifically at the influence of several negative emotions – including anger, sadness and anxiety – on blood-vessel function, compared to what can be considered a “neutral” emotion. The aim was to determine whether feelings could ultimately play a role in certain cardiovascular diseases.
They randomly subjected 280 adults to what they termed an “emotional task” lasting eight minutes. Each participant was asked to recall a personal memory that had made them angry; a personal memory associated with anxiety; to read a series of depressing phrases associated with sadness; or to repeatedly count up to 100. In the latter case, the researchers expected a neutral emotion.
The scientists also analysed the cells lining the participants’ blood vessels before and after assigning them these tasks – at the equivalent of 0 minutes (baseline), then at three minutes, then 40 minutes, 70 minutes, and 100 minutes after the task.
Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the findings reveal an alteration in blood-vessel dilation linked to memories that trigger episodes of anger. This occurred from 0-40 minutes after the “emotional task” was performed. Beyond that point, the anomaly in question was no longer present.
This alteration may, in turn, increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. In contrast, memories or actions linked to anxiety and sadness did not have the same effect.
“We saw that evoking an angered state led to blood-vessel dysfunction, though we don’t yet understand what may cause these changes,” said study lead author Daichi Shimbo, a professor of medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
One of the researchers’ next objectives will be to determine the mechanisms by which these emotional states, including anger, can have a significant impact on the cardiovascular health of people.
This is not the first time researchers have established a link between unhappiness, or negative emotions, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and events. Findings published just over a year ago in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, using data from over 6.5 million people aged between 20 and 39, suggested that people suffering from any kind of mental disorder were 58% and 42% more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, respectively, than other participants in the research.
More recently, US researchers demonstrated that air pollution can cause stress, and by extension increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.