We all have them – people that make us hot under the collar………..

Being near them is bad for your body chemistry.

Counting does not help

You’ve tried the standard advice of

“Turning around and count to 10”

Unfortunately, when you turn around, they’re still there. Saying or doing whatever it was that got you hot under the collar in the first place. And you don’t want to go from hot under the collar, to the point where your blood is boiling, because it could precipitate a heart attack or something. Okay, maybe that is a bit melodramatic, but stress adds up and can send you diving into the cookie jar, which can have consequences.

A group of psychology researches may have stumbled on a technique that can help you let some of the excess steam out. Saving your heart from the uncalled for, stress and strain.

Embrace the anger

Acknowledge it.

Take time to concede that you are about to go postal…..

NOTE : You won’t be able to GO POSTAL, this is socially not acceptable, you still need to bite your lip.

An angry brain…..

It turns out………….. affirming your emotional turmoil has more benefits than you might think.

Maybe your brain just feels heard ?

The accidental discovery was made, when the team deliberately set about making a group of volunteers ANGRY.

Winding up the volunteers

The volunteers were wired up with sensors which could measure their heart rate.

The experiment began in a cordial way, with a getting to know you session, which explored how they were feeling and how they felt in a variety of situations. These responses served as the baseline.

Once the scene had been set, the researchers created a SITUATION. The volunteers were asked to complete a difficult maths task – a task which for many is already rather tortuous. But this was not done alone, to add to the torture, an evaluator hovered over them providing feedback. Not the kind of feedback you would expect, helpful encouragement, this feedback was toxic.

The evaluator criticized and cajoled, to spark an emotional response.

Depending on which group the volunteer was in…… the emotional response was either one of

• anger
• shame

The control subjects were spared the taunting of the evaluator, their “evaluator” was a silent spectator, not a force of destruction.

The big question

At the end of the task, the participants were given an opportunity to DEBRIEF, through the completion of a questionnaire.

Some of the questionaires included THE BIG QUESTION

How angry are you right now ?

This is PG rated blog – so we won’t share their responses.

When all was said and done, the people who got to answer that question, were physiologically speaking, in a better space, than the those who did not. Their heart rates resembled NORMAL.

Participants who seethed in silence, had marginally higher heart rates.

Stop before your blood boils

This research suggests………..

You can’t stop yourself from getting angry, but you can stop your blood from boiling, by admitting your’re ANGRY. Really ANGRY. A-N-G-R-Y.

NOTE : This is the philosophy we use in our household – when you’re angry make sure everyone knows about it. The angry party feels calmer, even if everyone else in the house is shell shocked.

Further reading

Good and bad days begin early in the morning	Are you sometimes too dog tired to act responsible ?	If you need to bring peace to the board room, hire a dog

Sometimes better body chemistry begins in your head. Want to learn more ? 

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How do you handle ANGRY SITUATIONS ?