How Habitual Anger May Lead To Stroke, Diabetes

MEDICAL scientists say that anger is not just ordinary emotion; it is necessary emotion that may hurt, if not well handled. Consultant Psychiatrist with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Raphael Ogbolu, told The Guardian that although anger is considered to be a natural emotion, it can harm like a venomous snake, if not well controlled.

His words: “Certainly, anger has health implications. Anger is a naturally occurring emotion. It is considered as an instinctual drive, and it has its purpose. It can be both beneficial and harmful.

The same mechanism through which one initiates a fight response is also involved in initiating an anger response. That process involves the outpouring of hormones and chemicals into the body.

“If someone is repeatedly angry, these chemicals will continue to be poured out into the body. But they are chemicals that are supposed to be poured out into the body for a purpose, for a short time, just to help one get rid of the problem one may be facing. But when someone becomes habitually angry, what happens is that these chemicals over time will have harmful effects on the body, most particularly the blood vessels.

So, it puts the person at risk for such health conditions as stroke or other heart-related diseases. Anger has harmful effect on the body. Again, some people have said that there may be a link between anger and other chronic health conditions like diabetes among others. “On the psychological health, it beclouds one’s sense of judgment.

Anger has been linked with people making poor decisions and poor judgments. So, you are likely to do things you are not going to be happy with, or you may even regret later.

During anger, the heart and pulse rate increase. It is not a very comfortable situation.” Various published researches agree that anger is harmful to health. A recent research published in the journal, Circulation, showed that habitual anger could lead to heart -related diseases and death. But Ogbolu said anger might be good at times when properly utilised.

“Anger is good as defense mechanism sometimes,” the Chairman of LUTH Chapter of Medical Consultant Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) said. “It is a natural occurrence.

At some point, we may get angry. It is like getting hungry, feeling happy and excited. But when it is excessive or becoming habitual, it becomes harmful to the body. “Some of the chemicals that are poured out to the body are what we call ‘stress hormones.’

Anger in itself can be said to amount to nothing. But as an emotion that is felt by someone, it can be very dangerous to the overall health of an individual. As a conductor of negative energy, anger energy has the potential of blocking the pathway through which healing and restorative life force energy flows in and out of the body. These pathways are called the meridians. These bad energies can also block the energy centres that are responsible for the inflow of life force energy into the human energy body system. These centres are known as Chakras in Sanskrit language or bio-centres in scientific circles.

These hormones act over time on the blood vessels, and they also have activities on the hypothalamic, pituitary and adrenal axis, which we call HPA axis. It is a common axis which is involved in the regulation of the body’s mechanism, even immunity. The pituitary gland is involved in the normal balancing of the body.

By often triggering this axis with repeated anger, some of the chemical hormones will be poured out more often than necessary and they will, through a complex mechanism, alter sugar response. “Mind you that one of the effects of stress is shoot-up of blood sugar level, a situation that is supposed to prepare or give you the energy to face or run away from the problem. Imagine that you have this going on several times every day! The body is a funny machine.

It learns. So, if you are repeatedly angry, what happens is that the body continuously pours out blood sugar, and the body gets used to pouring it so that even when you are not angry, the blood sugar will remain high.”

African Regional Coordinator for Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) and Director of GoldenRays Integrated Energy Therapy (GIET), Dr James Iwowarri, energy psychologist, agreed with Ogbolu when he said habitual anger is detrimental to health. “Anger in itself can be said to amount to nothing. But as an emotion that is felt by someone, it can be very dangerous to the overall health of an individual.

As a conductor of negative energy, anger energy has the potential of blocking the pathway through which healing and restorative life force energy flows in and out of the body.

These pathways are called the meridians. These bad energies can also block the energy centres that are responsible for the inflow of life force energy into the human energy body system.

These centres are known as Chakras in Sanskrit language or bio-centres in scientific circles. These blockages affect the feeding of the organs with this life force energy, which may cause organ failures with their various attendant physical and emotional challenges. They can also lead to mal-activities in the cell domain, which may lead to conditions known as cancer and other autoimmune diseases.

Angry energy can be felt by some people as pressures in various parts of the body, and these could lead to physiological conditions that will force people to seek medical attentions,” Iwowarri said. He added that habitual anger could be reversed with the help of experienced therapist.

“Energy therapy is the only known modality now for not only healing the effects of anger but also in rooting the cause of the anger energy from its source.

Energy therapy helps the individual in his or her journey through achieving personal forgiveness and to forgive the source of the anger.

The process is drug free and easy to do. However, using energy therapy to deal with some emotions such as anger emotion requires the experience and skill of a trained and certified energy health practitioner or energy psychologist.

Mind you that one of the effects of stress is shoot-up of blood sugar level, a situation that is supposed to prepare or give you the energy to face or run away from the problem. Imagine that you have this going on several times every day! The body is a funny machine. It learns. So, if you are repeatedly angry, what happens is that the body continuously pours out blood sugar, and the body gets used to pouring it so that even when you are not angry, the blood sugar will remain high.

“Healing anger with energy medicine is one major step anybody can take. This is because an experienced therapist will dig deep to the cause of the anger.

Many times, people express family anger or the anger of a departed relation or friend who wants to express frustrations that he or she had no opportunity to express while alive. Until that connection is severed, the affected person will continue to find that he or she just gets angry at every opportunity for no just reason.

“When such anger is expressed, most times with serious actions, they immediately regret and want to blame the ‘devil’ for their actions. Like any addictive behavior, anger can also be addictive. In such cases, only a knowledgeable therapist will be able to bring support to the affected person and energy therapy helps here very well.”