Extreme anger can cause massive heart attacks, a new study shows

Do you know extreme anger outbursts can cause massive heart attacks, which ultimately lead to the death of a person? Research study shows a link between a sudden anger outburst and a significantly increased risk of myocardial infarction, known as a heart attack.

Researchers from St. John’s University in New York, Yale School of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and other institutes conducted this research on selected people.

In their experiment, group members were purposefully forced to have angry outbursts. The researchers chose 280 young adults in good health and divided them into four groups.

They advised one group to remember experiences that made them angry, unhappy, or anxious. However, they instructed other groups to stay emotionally neutral for eight minutes.

The researchers collected blood samples before the experiment and then after every 100 minutes they monitored blood pressure and flow.

The study results for this research are reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association. They showed extreme anger outbursts can cause massive heart attacks with worsening blood vessel health.

When a person gets angry, the heart beats faster and blood pressure rises. It also stresses the hormone system in the human body.

This can be a problem because it causes massive stress on the heart and blood vessels. Hence, it can lead to damage to arteries and can block them to stop normal blood flow resulting in a heart attack.

Dr. Holly Middlekauff is a cardiologist and professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. She said these results may help doctors counsel their patients on heart disease and anger management.

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According to Dr. Holly, doctors may guide their patients to learn how to control their emotions through yoga, exercise, or cognitive behavioral therapy. The consensus is not that anger causes heart attacks.

Dr. Holly stated this research provides biological support for the concept that anger is unhealthy as it elevates blood pressure and that there is a decline in vascular health. So, it might catch the attention of some patients.

Previous research has shown the risk of great anger has a connection with severe heart attacks. However, researchers conducted this study experiment to validate the previous research studies.