Can anger cause high blood pressure?

            Thank you for your question, reader. Anger is a normal and natural human emotion, and in general, we don’t have to be worried that feeling our feelings will contribute to serious health problems like high blood pressure. All emotions result from a chemical reaction in the brain, and when felt natural, they subside quickly, and the body processes those chemicals out normally. People typically feel anger in response to feeling threatened. The average adult feels angry about once a day, with lower levels of anger (annoyed or frustrated) about three times a day (Mills, 2005). Different risk factors can account for people feeling anger more often than normal. Contributing factors such as past experiences, behavior learned from others, genetic predispositions, and lack of problem-solving ability can make someone more prone to anger (Loo, 2005). Experiencing high levels of anger more often can lead to a build-up of stress-related chemicals in the body. Evidence does show that higher levels of stress-related chemicals in the body can contribute to significant health problems over time.

The stress hormones released when a person experiences anger are adrenaline and noradrenaline. These chemicals help the body control the heart rate and blood pressure. The release of these chemicals also helps regulate the pancreas, which controls the sugar balance in our blood (Boerma, 2007). Other neurotransmitters the brain releases in response to anger that cause increased heart rate and blood pressure. There are chemicals released in response to anger and stress that can clot the blood, increasing a person’s risk for heart attack or stroke. So, people who are constantly angry are at a higher risk of coronary heart disease and other illnesses (Hendricks et al., 2013).

Given what we know about the potential negative impacts to our health that chronic anger can cause, it is important to learn effective tools to diffuse and manage anger. If you are someone that relates to experiencing anger often, I recommend that you speak to a mental health professional about learning some new anger management skills. It is also important that you regularly see a medical doctor to assess and prevent serious illness.

-References in this post are taken from the following journal article: The Effects of Anger on the Brain and Body. National Forum Journal of Counseling and Addiction, Vol 2, No1, 2013.