By Dr. Naser Alfuraih
Let me be frank with you: every time you flare up in anger, something happens deep inside your arteries that you neither hear nor feel. We have long said, figuratively, "he was nearly killed by rage," or "his heart burst with anger." But modern science has shown that this is not merely a figure of speech; it is a reality that can be measured in the laboratory.
In
our previous article, we agreed that venting does not put out anger. Here I want to show you the deeper cost: what does your body pay when you let it flare up again and again? The price, as you will see with me, is paid directly by your heart.
Where Does This Reality Touch Your Life?
You may think a passing fit of anger leaves no trace. But let me ask you: how many times a week do you get angry without counting?
◾ In road traffic: You seethe more times than you can count, and each surge of anger is an added burden on your blood vessels.
◾ In a heated discussion: Your pressure rises and your pulse quickens, and your arteries take a silent blow.
◾ In front of a screen that angers you: A news item or a comment sets you off, and its effect lingers in you even after you turn the screen off.
Believe me, the problem is not the single outburst but their accumulated total over the years.
What Happens in Your Body When You Get Angry?
Let me explain what goes on inside you at the moment of anger. Your body enters a "fight or flight" state: adrenaline surges, your heart speeds up, your blood pressure rises, and your muscles tense. Your body equipped you with this response long ago to survive real danger, but today it fires for the most trivial reasons: a hurtful word, a suffocating traffic jam, an annoying message.
At the center of this system is a thin layer lining your blood vessels from the inside, called the endothelium. Its job is to let your vessels widen and narrow smoothly to regulate blood flow. When it works well, your blood flows freely to where it is needed; when it is disrupted, the dysfunction begins that paves the way for heart disease.
The Study That Revealed the Secret
In 2024, a team from Columbia University led by Dr. Daichi Shimbo did something remarkable: they recruited 280 healthy adults, aged 18 to 73, with no heart disease and no risk factors for it, and published their findings in the Journal of the American Heart Association, with funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Let me describe what they did: they asked one group to recall an incident that angered them for eight minutes, another group to recall an anxious memory, a third a sad memory, and a fourth to count numbers in a completely neutral way. They then measured the vessels' ability to dilate before and after the exercise, at the 3rd, 40th, 70th and 100th minutes.
The result will surprise you: in the group that got angry, the vessels' ability to dilate was weakened, and the weakening persisted for up to forty minutes, from only eight minutes of anger.
If you get angry once, your blood vessels' ability to dilate is impaired. But what if you get angry ten thousand times in your life? — Daichi Shimbo, Columbia University
The Scientific Basis
- A randomized controlled study of 280 healthy adults aged 18 to 73.
- Eight minutes of recalling anger weakened vessel dilation, and the weakening lasted up to 40 minutes.
- Anxiety and sadness did not leave the same effect; only anger did.
- Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) in 2024 with funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Why Anger in Particular?
But the biggest surprise awaits you: anxiety and sadness did not do this. Anger alone weakened the arteries significantly, while anxiety left no confirmed effect and sadness had no effect at all. Even the researcher himself admitted that the result surprised him.
And this tells you something important: do not put all your negative emotions in one basket. Every emotion leaves its own fingerprint on your body, and anger, as you can see, is the heaviest on your heart.
From a Passing Episode to a Chronic Disease
You may say to me: forty minutes and the effect fades, so where is the danger? A fair question, and the answer lies in one word: repetition. Every bout of anger leaves a small wound in the lining of your vessels. With thousands of bouts of anger across your lifetime, the small wounds accumulate until they become a scar that cannot be erased.
A wounded lining cannot regulate flow, so fatty deposits begin to build up on your vessel walls, in what we call atherosclerosis, which is a path toward heart attack and stroke. And it did not stop there: the study also recorded signs of injury to cells and a decline in their ability to repair themselves.
In short, a passing outburst gives you a passing wound, but repeated anger carves a permanent scar in your arteries.
Why Do We Underestimate Our Anger?
Let me tell you why most of us overlook this danger. Anger does not send you an immediate bill. If every episode caused pain in
your chest at that very moment, you would have stopped long ago. But the damage is silent and cumulative, and you do not feel it until years later.
Then, too, we have grown used to justifying ourselves: "My anger is natural," "I'm a straightforward man," "That's how I was made." Some of that may be true, but your arteries do not understand your justifications; they record every episode as it is and pay the price in silence.
And here is the crux: because you do not see the effect, you assume it does not exist. It is like someone who thinks a drop of water will never pierce a rock, yet the rock is pierced. The difference is that you can stop the drops before it is too late.
A Scene from the Field
I know a man in his fifties, successful in his work, but quick to anger. He got angry at employees, at drivers, at the news, and he took pride in "saying it to their faces" and holding nothing back. He did not realize that each of his daily outbursts was leaving a silent mark on his arteries.
When he visited the doctor for a routine checkup, early signs of hardening appeared in his arteries even though his other tests were normal. The cause was neither food nor smoking, but anger sustained daily for years. His anger was not only hurting those around him; it was hurting his own heart first.
Perhaps you know people like him, or perhaps, between you and me, you glimpse something of him in yourself. No worries; awareness of the problem is the first step toward solving it. And I will not leave you at the diagnosis; I will now take you by the hand to what truly protects your heart.
For Whom Is This Message Most Urgent?
You may ask me: is it the same for everyone? The truth is that some people deserve more attention than others, so allow me to put you honestly before the mirror:
◾ If you are quick-tempered by nature: You flare up many times in your day, so you are among those this message concerns most.
◾ If there is a history of heart disease in your family: Or you carry a risk factor such as high blood pressure or diabetes, your anger multiplies the load on your heart.
◾ If your work is charged: With tension and daily confrontations, you are receiving repeated doses of arousal without realizing it.
I do not say this to frighten you but to wake you up. Whoever knows they are in the danger zone can leave it through the simple steps I will now put in your hands.
How Do You Protect Your Arteries?
The news that pleases me to share with you: what protects your mind from anger protects your heart too. Here is what I advise:
- Cool your arousal immediately: Slow breathing and a moment of pause bring your pulse and pressure down, shortening the period of strain instead of prolonging it.
- Do not vent in ways that raise arousal: Shouting, smashing things and running hard in the heat of anger raise your pressure at that moment, adding to the burden on your heart.
- Address the repetition, not the episode: Track how many times you get angry in a day, not the intensity of each episode. This is where the real risk lies.
- Reinterpret your situations: The less that sets you off, the fewer wounds your arteries receive. Your calm mind is a shield for your heart.
- Look after your heart's foundations: Sleep well, move regularly and eat well, and you support your vessels' ability to repair themselves.
- Seek help if anger keeps accompanying you: Consulting a specialist is not a luxury; it protects your mind and your heart together.
Steps to Calm the Heart During Anger
1. Pause before you react: Give your body a few seconds before your pressure rises further.
2. Breathe slowly: A calm inhale and a longer exhale, six times, bring your pulse and pressure down together.
3. Relax your body: Open your fists and lower your shoulders; relaxing your muscles reassures your vessels.
4. Step away for a few minutes: Leave the source of the anger until your vessels return to normal before you act.
And do not wait until it reaches a doctor or a test. Start today with one step: tomorrow, observe your anger and count how many times you flared up. The moment you know your number, you have begun to protect your heart. What you do not measure you cannot manage, and what you see clearly you can change.
Recommendations
| For a healthier heart |
Beware of |
| Track how often you get angry, not only how intensely |
Underestimating repeated episodes |
| Cool your arousal immediately through breathing |
Loud venting in the heat of anger |
| Sleep well and move regularly |
Neglecting the foundations of heart health |
| See your doctor if you have risk factors |
Postponing the request for help |
Questions That May Be on Your Mind
"Is passing anger really dangerous?"
A single bout of anger causes a temporary effect that usually fades. The real danger, as I have shown you, lies in its repetition thousands of times, as small wounds accumulate until they become lasting damage.
"What about anxiety and sadness?"
The study showed that anger alone clearly weakened participants' vessels, while neither anxiety nor sadness left the same effect. Every emotion has its own fingerprint, and anger is the heaviest on your arteries.
"My heart is healthy, so does this concern me?"
The study was conducted on completely healthy people, and the effect appeared in them. I say it to you sincerely: prevention begins before disease appears, not after.
A Pause
Stay with me for a moment. Put your hand on your chest and feel your pulse now while you are calm. This same heart is the one that pays the price of every outburst of anger. Doesn't it deserve that you slow down before you flare up? Between you and me, when you calm down for your heart's sake, you will discover that you have calmed down for the sake of your whole life.
Conclusion
Anger is no longer, for me, a purely psychological matter, and it should not be for you either. It is a physical event that leaves its mark in the finest cells of your vessels and accumulates silently until it reaches your heart. Whoever learns to calm their anger protects not only their relationships and peace of mind but their very lifeline.
I am not asking you to become a person without anger, for anger is part of your humanity and has its place. But I invite you to take hold of its reins before it takes hold of yours, and to remember in every episode that your heart hears it even if you do not hear it.
Take care of your anger, and you take care of your heart.
Sources
• Shimbo, D., Cohen, M., McGoldrick, M., et al. (2024). Translational Research of the Acute Effects of Negative Emotions on Vascular Endothelial Health. Journal of the American Heart Association, 13(9).
• National Institutes of Health (2025). NIH-funded clinical trial links frequent anger to increased risk of heart disease.
• Kjærvik, S. L., & Bushman, B. J. (2024). A meta-analytic review of anger management activities. Clinical Psychology Review, 109.
