In 1964’s “Mojave Crossing,” Western novelist Louis L’Amour argued, “Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before – it takes something from him.”
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that he might have been on to something.
The research, sponsored by the National Institute of Health, examined the endothelial cellular function of 280 healthy adults after exposure to tasks designed to generate elevated levels of anger, anxiety, sadness and neutrality. The study revealed that, after being exposed to significant anger-inducing tasks, subjects suffered a decline in endothelial cellular function. This limited the ability of blood vessels to dilate.
Endothelial cells line the inside of blood vessels, ensuring structural integrity and proper cardiovascular function. Specifically, vascular dilation is needed to increase blood flow to properly oxygenate tissues and get other nutrients to the whole body, especially in areas under stress. In addition, proper vascular dilation is essential to help prevent arteries from hardening, which is a primary cause of heart disease.
This discovery is profound as researchers noted that endothelial cellular function continued to be diminished for an extended period, even after the subject’s symptoms of anger subsided. Surprisingly, this decline in function peaked around 40 minutes after the anger-inducing tasks. The same phenomenon was not seen for anxiety or sadness.
This research needs to be understood in context. Researchers are not arguing that anger is always destructive to your health. Anger is a natural emotion that can and will manifest in unhealthier behaviors when not expressed. What concerns researchers are chronic feelings of anger, which never experience a resolution, preventing endothelial cells from ever recovering and supporting positive cardiac health.
Dr. Daichi Shimbo of Columbia University, one of the study’s chief researchers, explains the concern. He asked, “What if you get angry 10,000 times over a lifetime? This chronic insult to your arteries may eventually lead to permanent damage. That’s what we think is going on.”
All of this should give us pause. First, we should reflect upon our health, lifestyle, and how we express our anger. These are serious matters that should be discussed with one’s primary care physician, who can help identify individual risk factors and possible lifestyle changes.
Second, we need to think about our society. Despite all the medical advances in the twentieth century, heart disease is still the number one killer of adults in the United States. This has not changed for decades because anger has come to define our society.
As I watch the latest protest on the evening news and hear the fiery rhetoric from pundits and community leaders, I am concerned about the national level of anger. We do not discourse with each other anymore. We just scream.
Anger is everywhere and at every turn. As a hospital chaplain, I encounter it as one of the most common emotions all day long.
We are angry at the government, each other and even ourselves. Echoing Dr. Shimbo’s concern, I worry about what happens when anger never stops and is so pervasive that it follows us into our dreams.
Yes, anger has its place. Moses was justified in his anger when he broke the first stone tables to protest the people’s return to idolatry (Exodus 32). The Psalms are filled with angry outbursts directed at the Almighty.
Jesus’ anger was merited when he drove out the money changers (Matthew 21:12-13). There is a place for anger in our daily and spiritual lives, but too often, we have allowed anger to be the main focus of almost everything.
The author of Proverbs warns us to “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25). This parallels Paul’s advice when he argued, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26, 27).
Let us be clear. The Bible calls us to be angry over injustice, societal abuse and idolatry.
Anger is necessary and unavoidable. These emotions must come out, but as a society, we have gone far beyond that. Anger is now an epidemic.
Ambassadors of good faith need to step back and examine the sea of hate, frustration and anger that surrounds us and start building bridges that can heal disenfranchised populations. It is time to stand up to the chaotic waves of anger that crash against our shores and begin building the land into a place of peace where people from all walks of life can live safely on the dry ground of understanding, respect and mutual love.
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Senior Staff Chaplain and Clinical Ethicist at the Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.
