Seeing Red Is Bad for Your Health

April 21, 2000 -- There's nothing wrong with anger, in appropriate situations and in limited amounts, experts say. But chronic anger not only affects our relationships with others, it can harm our bodies, leading to heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems.

Anger can be a useful emotion, says William H. Mueller, PhD, a behavioral epidemiologist and professor of behavioral sciences at the School of Public Health at the University of Texas in Houston. "It's a signal; it says our space is being violated, or I'm not getting my way, I'm not accomplishing my goal."

It's also a signal that harkens back to the "fight or flight" survival instincts of our distant ancestors. It stimulates adrenaline, gives us energy, helped cavemen survive. "But it can get out of hand. People can be fearful of things they shouldn't be fearful about. People get into the habit, and they don't even realize how they're coming across. It's like being on a drug, sort of. We all know bosses who are like that, don't we?"

The androgenic (male) hormones that are associated with anger stimulate action, he says. "It's the same thing that motivates us to see injustices, it can inspire us to take action. ? There are times when it's very appropriate to be angry. However, it's uncontrolled, chronic anger -- negative behavior patterns -- that get people into trouble."

Such anger can be based in deep mistrust of other people, says Mueller. Formed during childhood, such mistrust leads to defensive thought patterns, the idea that 'this person has it in for me.'

"There's very good evidence that children who are angry often come from families where there is lot of punitive blaming, a lot of high emotion and anger expressed, where adults are taking something personally rather than recognizing that the child has misbehaved, that kind of thinking," Mueller says.

Angry and mistrustful feelings can also come from growing up with parents who are too permissive or who are uninvolved emotionally, he adds. "Sometimes people become very passive, and other times they become very aggressive. Those two are very often connected."

Some people with high levels of hostility may deny ever feeling angry. "Others may recognize the fact that they're hotheads," Mueller tells WebMD. "There are the extremes of reactions. People drag these habits along with them through life."

The so-called afflictive emotions -- anger, rage, strong reactions to disappointments, taking things personally -- chronically stimulate the body's survival systems. That includes the androgenic hormone system as well as the immune system, says Mueller.

Some of these anger-associated hormones come from the adrenal gland, located on or near the kidneys. Researchers have theorized that chronic stimulation of the adrenal system results in higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels.