Here’s Why Your Anger Could Be Making You Sick

Amy Taylor December 01, 2016

Anger is a natural human emotion. But it’s a bad one. Worse, anger does a lot of bad things in your health. When you’re angry, your blood pressure increases, affecting your heart health. Your stress levels are raised too, thus increasing your risk of mental health illnesses, including depression and anxiety. But the negative effect of anger does not just end there. Did you know it can cause you cancer too?

And there’s not just one, but several studies that confirm this fact. In one study, anger has been found to increase the amount of cortisol produced in the body. Cortisol is a stress hormone which is known to suppress the immune system. When your immune system is weak, so as your entire body. Normal cells mutate into cancer cells, increasing your risk of cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Another research carried out by the King’s College Hospital in London found a link between an individual’s emotion and breast cancer. The findings revealed that extreme suppression of anger and other negative feelings raises the risk of breast cancer. Researchers from the University of Tennessee confirmed this result. They found that suppressed anger was a precursor to developing cancer. Another research carried out by Stanford University also suggests similar findings. They found that powerful emotions cause a flood of cortisol that predicted early death in women with breast cancer.

Psychological Stress and Cancer

There are several ways by which psychological stress brought by anger and cancer are related. One is that when a person is chronically stressed, he or she may develop certain behaviours that raises cancer risk, such as smoking, alcohol or substance abuse, and overeating. Another thing, the increase in cortisol levels cause normal cells to mutate, as mentioned earlier, and turn into deadly cancer cells.

Other studies also suggest that psychological stress increases a tumour’s ability to grow and spread. Studies in conducted in animal and human cells have found that the stress hormone norepinephrine, which is involved in the body’s fight or flight system, may promote angiogenesis (development of new blood vessels) and metastasis (spread of cancer).

How can you avoid experiencing too much anger?

There are many ways to control anger. They include the following:

· Relaxation techniques , meditation, or stress management

· Counselling or talk therapy

· Cancer education sessions

· Social support in a group setting

· Medications for depression or anxiety

· Exercise

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