Here’s How Anger Causes Your Risk of Death from a Heart Attack

The idea that stress caused by anger can trigger a heart attack is nothing new. But thanks to a recent study, for the first time it is possible to know What is the reason for this link?. To do this, the researchers measured the vasodilatory response of the endothelium in 280 participating adults.

“It is known that a change in this reaction can lead to atherosclerosis and, therefore, to In the long term it can cause a heart attackstroke or acute cardiovascular problem,” explains to EL ESPAÑOL Manuel Anguita, cardiologist at the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Cordoba and representative of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC).

(Pneumonia and heart attack: this is a combination of common diseases that cause the most deaths in Spain)

The results of the above study showed that anger affects endothelial function by limiting the ability of blood vessels to dilate. One of the hypotheses that the Securities and Exchange Commission has put forward from the results of this study is that if anger attacks are repeated, —and with them arterial problems—, Yes, this can provoke higher risk of death.

In the case of anxiety and sadness, the effect was not as pronounced. Angita suspects it may be because these are “calmer negative emotional situations.” According to the authors, these results suggest that the way they affect heart disease varies depending on the type of emotion.

More anger, more risk

This study essentially adds to the extensive list of studies that have shown in recent years how mental health affects cardiovascular health. Other work – in this case it was a review of studies published in Spanish Journal of Cardiology– showed that anger and depression increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by 19%.

According to this review, negative emotions not only play an important role in the development of cardiovascular disease. They also participate in its development. That is, the more angry you are, the higher your risk of having a heart attack and die for this cause.

“From an emotional perspective, the fundamental factor at the heart level is stress,” says Angita. The most obvious case occurs in stress cardiomyopathy. Also known as broken heart syndrome, it was first described in the 90s in Japan.

Although it resembles myocardial infarction, it does not involve the coronary arteries and associated with a stressful event. In fact and85% of reported cases occur in postmenopausal women who have experienced sudden emotional or physical stress.

How to reduce risk

There are drugs that improve the vasodilatory response of the endothelium. Taking this into account, one would think that they could be used while the temper tantrums continue. Although, as Angita points out, it would not make sense to prescribe it to people who have not had any disease.

The way to avoid this is nothing other than to try to control your stress better. “I don’t know how many times during the day we encounter situations that make us angry. And if each of them causes changes in the vascular endothelium… We must be careful, we must try to be calmer about everything“, recommends Angita.

The cardiologist realizes that there are times when it is impossible to escape stressful situations. And also, given the current way of life: “The stress of modern life can and in fact already increases the incidence of cardiovascular disease,” he says.

In his opinion, one of the possible reasons for the increase in the incidence of myocardial infarction and acute cardiovascular diseases is the level of stress to which a significant number of people are exposed today. As explained in the EL ESPAÑOL article: Heart attacks in young people are becoming more common In our country.

Positive emotions not only help you avoid negative emotions, but also improve your cardiovascular health. That’s the preliminary finding of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), in which positive messages were sent to patients with hypertension via WhatsApp. “It was observed that when positive emotional intervention was given, their blood pressure was lower than in groups where this was not done,” Angita points out.

This does not exclude that in the future they will have to work closely with psychologists to avoid the harmful effects of negative emotions on cardiovascular health. “In rehabilitation departments we already do this, and the work they do is very important. people who have very high levels of stress and they cannot control it on their own, it is likely that we also need help from a psychological point of view,” concludes Angita.