Bodyworks: the Physical Side of Anger

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

31 Jul 2009 12:17 PM

Some people have a shorter fuse than others. Some people seem to spend most of the time ticked off about something. Anger is a normal, healthy emotional state -- but it also has a physical impact on the body.

Anger can change the body in many different ways:

• Heart rate can increase
• Blood pressure can rise
• Facial expression and body language can change -- the face may get flushed, the jaw may clench, the arms may raise.
• Hormone levels change
• Perspiration can increase
• Blood flow to the hands may increase in preparation to fight

Researchers have observed a pattern of facial expressions in angry toddlers that indicates an inherited or natural response: the skin gets flushed, the muscles in the forehead contract, moving eyebrows closer together and down toward the eyes. Nostrils flare, and the jaw tends to clench. Other research has noted changes in the whole body: arms come up and the body squares off, ready to attack or defend.

Want to see it in action? Keep a mirror close at hand, then go read or listen to something that makes you really angry. If you can see past the red haze of rage, watch how your expression and body language changes. Better yet, observe it in someone else. It's easy enough to pick out the people having an argument in a crowd when you're people-watching.

Things change inside when you're angry, too. The body gets ready to fight with increased blood flow, raised heart rate, and higher blood pressure. The brain produces hormones, and the body releases glucose to prepare for immediate action.

What action, you may ask? The response to whatever it is that's making you angry. Anger can come up as a response to a threat -- we get mad at the person who cuts us off in traffic because their reckless driving endangers us. It's perfectly normal and healthy to get mad. Problems can arise in HOW you express your anger. Taking a tire iron to the reckless driver's back window generally isn't a good way to deal with your anger.

But it can be dealt with, emotionally and physically.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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