Anger is Physical
Maybe someone cuts you off in traffic. Maybe a coworker takes credit for your idea. Whatever causes it, anger isn't limited to a bad mood. It also isn’t limited to just your brain. In fact, your brain can trigger an entire physical stress response that changes your heart rate, muscles, and even the way your blood vessels behave. The next time you think you’re about to blow a gasket, just remember that a lot of things happen to your body, too.
1. Your Brain Sounds the Alarm
Before you've even figured out how annoyed you are, parts of your brain can already be responding to the perceived threat. The stress response is all about communication between the brain and the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares your body to react on a dime. That's why an infuriating situation can make you feel physically worked up.
2. Adrenaline Floods Your System
A rush of anger can prompt the release of adrenaline, and that helps make energy available quickly. It also prepares your organs to deal with whatever your brain has decided is important. So, what feels like a disagreement is actually your body getting considerably more energized than the situation requires.
3. Your Heart Beats Faster
One of anger's most noticeable effects is an increased heart rate. Don’t be surprised if you feel your pulse pounding in your chest or even your temples. It's a genuine change, not just something people say when they claim a surly pedestrian "got their heart racing."
4. Your Blood Pressure Skyrockets
That being said, your pulse isn't the only measurement that changes when you're furious—blood pressure rises, too. Adrenaline alters how hard your cardiovascular system is working, all while your body prepares for some sort of action. If you've ever watched somebody turn red while arguing, a lot’s happening underneath the surface.
5. Your Blood Vessels Act Differently
Even a short burst of anger can impair the ability of blood vessels to dilate properly. Some studies have shown that participants who recalled anger-provoking experiences showed worse dilation afterward than those assigned to neutral conditions. Now, that doesn't mean one annoying phone call will give you heart disease, but it does explain why scientists are interested in the effects of persistent anger.
6. You Breathe Faster
Don’t forget that anger can speed up your breathing; the sympathetic nervous system prepares the lungs to deliver more oxygen, so they’re in overdrive. Airways can also relax and widen during the stress response, helping oxygen move more efficiently when the body thinks immediate action might be necessary.
7. Your Pupils Can Widen
If you’re in the throes of an argument, the eyes get involved too—the sympathetic nervous system can cause your pupils to dilate. It sounds weird, but letting more light into your eyes can support awareness when you're dealing with a stressful situation.
8. Your Muscles Tighten
Anger almost always comes with muscle tension as your body becomes more prepared to respond to whatever set you off. You may notice your shoulders creeping upward. In hindsight, you might sense that your arms stiffened or your hands clenched. The long and short of it? When someone tells you to "relax" during an episode, they're pointing out a legitimate response.
9. Your Jaw Takes Some Strain
With our muscles and heart rate already firing, stress-related tension can seep into the jaw as well. Some people clench their teeth when they're frustrated, particularly if they're trying to keep themselves from blowing up. The issue is that repeated tension in the jaw and scalp can also contribute to the kind of discomfort associated with headaches.
10. Your Hands Shake
It’s not uncommon for an intense stress response to leave you trembling. Your nervous system is on high alert, your heart’s working faster, and stress hormones have prepared your body for immediate action. Naturally, that can all leave your movements less steady.
11. You Can Start Sweating
Believe it or not, sweat glands are also controlled in part by the sympathetic nervous system, so stress can drench you. Palms, underarms, and even the face can become noticeably sweaty during intense anger, and you have your nervous system to blame.
12. Your Face May Get Hot
Have you ever heard the expression getting “hot with anger?” Well, that’s a real physical component; cardiovascular activity changes during an angry episode. Increased arousal can make you feel flushed or uncomfortable, and it only gets worse when anger arrives suddenly.
13. Digestion is Pushed Aside
While you're dealing with a stress response, digestion isn't exactly your biggest concern. Sympathetic nervous system activity can actually slow digestive processes, and that's one reason a nasty confrontation can abruptly make mealtime considerably less appealing.
14. Your Stomach Can Feel Awful
If you’re the kind of person who feels tension in their stomach, a burst of anger will definitely upset it further. People can experience gastrointestinal discomfort during stressful periods, and ongoing stress has long been associated with a range of digestive complaints.
15. Your Liver Helps Release Extra Energy
Behind the scenes, your liver can make stored energy available as part of the sympathetic stress response. Basically, if the brain thinks you need to move or respond quickly, your body has just provided extra fuel to do so. Unfortunately, your liver doesn't know that that "emergency" is just a passive-aggressive email.
16. Your Attention Becomes More Intense
It’s a fancy word, but norepinephrine is one of the chemicals involved in the fight-or-flight response. It also increases alertness and attention, so that heightened state can make you extremely focused on whatever has upset you. It's one reason you can remember every terrible insult without paying attention to anything else.
17. Your Brain Starts Seeing More Hostility
Anger doesn't necessarily make you an objective judge of what's happening. Research has actually linked anger with greater attention to angry faces and a tendency to interpret ambiguous social situations as more hostile. It’s important to keep in mind that once you're already furious with a coworker, their perfectly neutral response may sound much more offensive.
18. Clear Thinking Can Become Harder
The hormones involved in acute stress don't only affect your organs—they can also influence memory. Research has found changes in prefrontal brain activity associated with memory processing, which might explain why decision-making isn’t always smart when you’re fired up.
19. Frequent Anger Can Keep Your Body Under Strain
A short-lived angry response and a pattern of anger aren't the same thing. Repeated stress can expose the body to all those terrible symptoms we just talked about, more often than intended. Getting irritated because someone stole your parking spot is one thing; spending most days in simmering hostility only causes more problems down the line.
20. Your Body Has to Bring Everything Back Down
Once your brain decides that a threat has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system helps return your body toward its calmer baseline. Heart rate and muscle activity changes don't necessarily switch off at the exact moment you stop feeling angry, so you may remain physically keyed up afterward.
