Why losing your temper can literally kill you

Researcher Thomas Buckley from the University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital in Australia said that while the absolute risk of any one anger episode triggering a heart attack is low, their data demonstrates that the danger is real and still there, the CBS News reported.

Buckley added that the increased risk of heart attack after intense anger or anxiety is most likely the result of increased heart rate and blood pressure, tightening of blood vessels and increased clotting, all associated with triggering of heart attacks.

The researchers concluded that the risk of heart attack in the two hours after a bout of intense anger or worse, level 5 or more, was 8.5 times higher than normal and also found the risk of heart attack was 9.5 times higher than normal in the two hours after extreme anxiety.

Buckley suggested that doctors should check heart patients or people at risk of heart disease for anger and anxiety problems and added that potential preventive approaches may be stress reduction training to limit the responses of anger and anxiety or avoiding activities that usually prompt such intense reactions.

Buckley noted that and for those at very high risk, one could potentially consider protective medication therapy at the time of or just prior to an episode, a strategy we have shown to be feasible in other studies.

Controlling high blood pressure and quitting smoking would also lower risk, he added.

The study appears in the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care.