Why Is It Important To Manage Anger?
Whether your little brother scribbled all over your homework or your favorite sports team lost unfairly, anger is a normal emotion. Anger is felt on a spectrum from mild annoyance to outrage and aggression. Although this feeling can help you process certain difficulties, holding it all in or letting it all out can sometimes harm relationships and ultimately leave you feeling worse than before.
Suppression or immense release of strong negative feelings puts a lot of stress on the body. Not only are there interpersonal and mental health consequences for excessive anger, but angry and hostile behavior over time increases one’s risk for coronary heart diseases and diabetes. Research has also found associations between anger and aggression and risky lifestyle behaviors, such as alcohol and drug abuse. Substance abuse related to anger is found both in adults and teens. Therefore, it is especially important to learn to manage at any age.
How To Tell If You Are Experiencing Anger
You can experience both physical and mental symptoms when you are feeling angry. Some physical symptoms include feeling hot, tightening in your chest, and shaking. You may feel physically and mentally tense. You may start to ruminate on – or continuously think about – your frustration toward the people around you, even if the source of the anger had to do with something else. Other emotions can come up, like guilt and humiliation. In the end, it looks a little bit different for everyone and varies across situations.
Ways To Cope
It can be helpful to take a little time when you are feeling calm to think about what this feels like for you to better recognize it in the future. What has made you angry before? What thoughts were going through your head or physical sensations through your body? What helped you move forward?
Find ways that help you relax and redirect your energy! Whether through movement, hobbies, or meditation, creating a calm space for yourself can help calm down your body physically and mentally.
Reasoning through the situation through journaling or talking it through with a close other can help you find the root of the problem and develop solutions. Sometimes the solution will be simply sitting through the difficult feelings and moving on, and that’s okay.
If it ever begins to feel that you cannot control your anger and your responses, it may be time to seek professional help for anger management. Confiding in friends and family alongside therapists or counselors can guide you through managing strong emotions in healthy ways.
To find more ways to cope with anger, check out the following resources:
By Ilana Issula
Sources
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