Feeling Angry*

We have all felt angry.

That bubbling, boiling, welling up inside of you that feels like everyone needs to get the heck out of your way before you punch a wall or kick a puppy.
I think we've all felt that

(But please, I'm hoping that no one has ever kicked a puppy)

Anger is powerful.

Today I was feeling angry. And I thought, "I wish I had a blog so that I could tell everyone how angry I am! Oh wait. I do have a blog!" And because this is a health-y blog, we're gonna talk about the health implications of anger. Hooray!

So. What happens inside when you start getting that vein pulsing in your forehead?
Anger will trigger the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response. The adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol). The brain sends blood towards the muscles in preparation for physical exertion. Heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increase, the body temperature rises and the skin perspires. The mind becomes sharpened and focused (but usually on something bad... puppy kicking or dummy punching, not rainbows and unicorns)

Then, you could deal with anger in a bad way...

• Anger explosions – some people have very little control over their anger and tend to explode in rages. Raging anger may lead to physical abuse or violence, and you don't want to be that person, nor do you want to be friends with that person.
  
• Anger repression – some people think that anger is an inappropriate emotion, and choose to suppress it. However, bottled anger can turn into depression and anxiety (There's a blog post about that too!). Some people vent their bottled anger at innocent parties, such as children or pets. So repression eventually leads to explosions anyways.

Or in a good way!

• If you feel out of control, walking away from the situation temporarily helps you cool down and come back into a discussion with a level head.
• Try to pinpoint the exact reasons why you feel angry and deal with that instead
• Once you have identified the problem, consider coming up with different strategies on how to fix the situation. Read: yelling doesn't fix things.
  
• Do something physical, such as going for a run or playing a sport (exercise is super helpful to lower stress and anger... unless it just stresses you out more, then don't do it)
• Learn meditation or relaxation techniques. Yoga's nice too.
• Make a blog and write about it. If you're not that self centered, write it in a journal or on the closest piece of scrappy paper. Anything to get those thoughts out.
  

Long term anger makes you sick!
The constant flood of stress chemicals that accompany recurrent anger can eventually cause harm to many different systems of the body. Various short and long-term health problems that have been linked to unmanaged anger include:

• Headache
• Digestion problems, such as abdominal pain
• Insomnia
• Increased anxiety
• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Skin problems, such as eczema
• Heart attack
• Stroke

How to stop it.
Control your anger before it controls you! Take anger management, see a psychiatrist, take a kickboxing class, start a blog, toke up, vent to a friend, take happy pills, whatever it takes to curb that anger! Life is way better when you chill the frick out anyway.

Don't be an angry bird!