Scientists identify emotion that significantly raises risk of heart attack or stroke

The researchers decided to find out how negative emotions can affect the condition of blood vessels. For the experiment, approximately 300 individuals aged 18 and older were recruited. All participants did not have any serious health problems, including cardiovascular problems. The volunteers also had no type 2 diabetes and no harmful habits.

During the tests, the scientists decided to check how the volunteers' health indicators would change depending on their emotions - anxiety, anger, sadness.

They were seated in comfortable chairs and asked to relax for 30 minutes. They were not allowed to sleep, use the phone, communicate with each other, read a book, or perform other activities. The room temperature was controlled.

All participants had their blood pressure measured, and their general health was monitored using special equipment. Blood samples were taken from all participants before the experiment.

After obtaining the baseline data, all volunteers were randomized into four groups: anger, anxiety, sadness, and neutral.

The people in the first two groups were asked to recall events that evoked certain emotions - anger or anxiety. Participants in the third group were supposed to experience sadness, so they were read an emotional text for eight minutes. Those in the neutral control group had to count from 1 to 100.

Then the scientists obtained the necessary data and compared the results between the groups. It turned out that the largest deviations were observed in those individuals who experienced anger.

As soon as a person starts to get angry, it greatly affects the condition of the blood vessels: they cannot dilate properly, which affects blood flow. Moreover, the condition returns to normal only 40 minutes after the anger disappears. During this time, the blood vessels remain under stress, significantly affecting the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

Provoked anger is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease events. In the current study, the provocation of anger adversely affected endothelial health by impairing endothelium‐dependent vasodilation. There were no statistically significant adverse effects of provoked anxiety and sadness on endothelium‐dependent vasodilation.

Earlier, we wrote about an unusual symptom that occurs a few hours before a stroke.

We also described the character of heart pain before a heart attack.

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