Watch that anger

Dismiss it as a personality trait but those white flashes can do much damage to your health. Here’s why you must control your anger

Mumbai Mirror Bureau

     

Posted On Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 03:59:48 AM

Anger is a natural human emotion, no doubt. At times, venting out your frustration is good, but knowing how to control it is equally crucial. How you react to a certain situation mirrors your level of maturity and problem-solving skills. Psychologist Alina Philip tells you why you must control those unwanted bouts of rage. •  The immediate effects: When you lose control, your body is the first to bear the brunt. Your blood pressure shoots up and your breathing becomes faster. It’s almost as if you were gearing up for a physical fight. In some cases, the high BP also leads to sudden headaches. And in the long run, the elevated blood pressure can lead to increase in the chances of heart attack. As the body temperature goes up, one may also experience sweating. • Tiredness: Expression of anger needs energy. As a result, it saps up your reserves and you feel tired. In the process, the level of stress hormone shoots up, further aggravating that ‘down and out’ feeling. You may feel ‘in control’ while expressing anger, but spend some time in that state and the depleting energy levels will hit you. As a result, your productivity takes a nose-dive and work suffers. • You cannot sleep: With so much negativity in your head and some riled up souls around you, getting a good night’s sleep is almost impossible. And even if you manage to fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion, the quality of it will be nowhere close to what your body (and mind) needs. Lack of sleep and anger works in a cyclical fashion. When you are angry, you don’t sleep well. And lack of sleep leads to a foul state of mind which can trigger anger. Insomnia and other sleep disorders come with their own share of health problems. • Depression: Being in a constant ‘worked up’ state can lead to depression. And that can set off a series of potentially harmful behavioral patterns such as smoking and excess drinking. Sometimes, people prone to anger use it to fight that feeling of depression and helplessness. Anger is not your natural and healthy state of mind, and when it turns into a regular phenomenon, ill effects are bound to follow. • Alienation: Losing your cool occasionally is one thing, but flare-ups become an everyday phenomenon, the ones on the receiving end will start distancing themselves. You are then in the danger of becoming socially ostracized. In the office environment, you will lose respect of your subordinates and your boss will view you as someone who has no control over his/her emotions. • Wrong decisions: Anger sends rationality for a toss. You are too caught up reacting to the immediate and lose focus of the true nature of the problem. In fact, when one ought to be channelizing energies towards solving the problem, you will be doing just the opposite. You cannot see the issue from a different perspective and there are high chances that you may end up taking the wrong decision.  Even studies say so…  Researchers from the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) in Baltimore have found that people who are angry and aggressive face a greater risk for heart attack and stroke. These people showed a greater thickness of the carotid arteries in the neck, a key risk factor for heart attack or stroke, compared with people who were more easygoing. The researchers write that "when the Type-A behavioral pattern was dissected into its constituent parts, hostility and anger emerged as the dominant predictor of coronary artery disease."  Get a grip on your anger  Get a grip on your anger with these asanas, says yoga expert Yogesh Chavan 1. Dirgha Shwasan (Deep breathing)  Sit comfortably with an erect spine, take a deep breath while expanding the stomach, then exhale deeply while pulling your stomach inwards. Continue for two to three minutes. Effect: Anger subsides gradually and it steadies your thinking process and relaxes you. When you deep breathe, more oxygen is supplied to the body. More oxygen means more nutrition that stops the usual shallow and speedy breathing experienced during anger. 2. Jivha Shitali (Tongue cooling) Sit comfortably and take your tongue out of the mouth. Shape your lips as if you would be saying the alphabet "O". In the process, this rolls the tongue into a pipe-like formation. Inhale through this tongue formation and close the mouth after pulling the tongue inside. Hold this breath inside for 15-20 seconds. Exhale through the nose while making a plain humming sound. Repeat about seven times. Effect: It cools you down, relaxes the brain and normalises heavy breathing. When you are angry, your body temperature goes up. The cool air provides counters this problem. 3. Bhramari Pranayam Breathe in and out through the nose. While exhaling, make a humming sound. Repeat the process about seven to eight times. Effect: The sound vibrations created are radiated all over the brain. The sound creates moderate vibrations as if massaging the brain and other delicate organs situated in the skull. It relaxes and removes stress.