[Medical Q&A] Will anger cause your blood pressure to soar?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Fan Yifan, Chief Physician, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University

When people are angry, their emotions become excited, and this excitement will excite the sympathetic nerves. The sympathetic nerves are part of the human autonomic nervous system, which is mainly responsible for responding quickly to stress or emergencies. When the sympathetic nerves are excited, a large amount of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine are released. These neurotransmitters act on the heart and blood vessels, causing the heart rate to increase, the heart's contraction force to increase, and the cardiac output to increase. At the same time, they also cause peripheral blood vessels to constrict, increasing vascular resistance. Because the resistance to blood flowing in the blood vessels increases, and the heart is pumping blood more forcefully, blood pressure naturally rises.

Being angry not only causes a short-term rise in blood pressure, but frequent and long-term anger can also have a lasting effect on blood pressure. People who are angry for a long time may often have unstable blood pressure. This repeated rise in blood pressure can damage the blood vessel walls and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and aortic dissection.

In addition, anger is often accompanied by shortness of breath, muscle tension and other symptoms, which will further aggravate the body's stress response and have an adverse effect on blood pressure. If this continues for a long time, it may lead to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.

In order to maintain stable blood pressure and good health, it is important to learn to control your emotions. When you feel angry, you can try to calm down by taking deep breaths, distracting your attention, etc., to maintain stable blood pressure and good health.