When a person becomes angry, a stress mechanism is activated in the body which leads to a lot of biological changes in the body. It is as if a red alert or emergency were declared in the body to cope with an impending threat. This is a spontaneous physiological response of the body whenever you get aroused. It is immaterial for the body whether you are aroused due to a traffic jam or due to the negligence of your subordinate or due to a real life-threatening attack on you. Body’s response remains the same. It can’t differentiate among various sources of arousal. This response of the body, also called Tight or Flight response, is organised by the activation of a component of autonomous nervous system called sympathetic nervous system which brings about the following changes in the body temporarily:
- Adrenal gland secretes a stress hormone called ‘adrenaline’ which helps to convert glycogen stored in the liver into blood sugar to provide instant energy to the body.
- Breathing becomes faster in order to provide more oxygen to the body.
- Heart beating rate is increased to increase the circulation of blood.
- Blood pressure is increased and blood vessels are dilated.
- Digestion is shut down and blood is diverted from stomach towards skeleton muscles to provide them energy.
- Sweating increases and skin resistance decreases.
- Mouth dries up because secretion of salivary glands is reduced.
- Blood is diverted away from the skin because peripheral blood vessels are constricted.
- The activity of immune system gets withdrawn for the time being.
See also : Anger management techniques
All these changes mentioned above happen to provide increased energy to the body to face the impending threat. So a lot of energy is produced in the body when you are angry.
Because of the mobilization of this energy an angry person can do such miraculous acts which you can’t even imagine. He can murder, jump from great height and do many violent actions in which tremendous physical force is required. But this enormous strength is gained only for the time being. After some time, you feel totally exhausted and collapsed on account of reaction due to great expenditure of energy.
As outward visible physical signs of an angry person, his eyes and face become red, the body quivers, the hands and legs start trembling and his volume of voice increases manifold.
The whole nervous system is shattered by an outburst of anger. Various poisons are thrown into the blood when one is angry. Instances are recorded where women have killed their children by nursing them with breast milk when they were in a fit of anger. People who can see the astral body of a person by clairvoyance, can find dark arrows shooting forth from the astral body of the person who is in anger.
Repeated activation of stress mechanism in the body because of anger disturbs the normal working of the body and tends to overactivate some systems (like heart, endocrine glands, etc.) beyond their capacities. Frequent episodes of anger can bring about many diseases in the body as listed below.
- Migraine, headaches
- Digestive disorders, diarrhoea, ulcer, gastritis
- High blood pressure and other heart diseases
- Increase in cholesterol level of blood, thickening and hardening of arteries
- Diabetes
- Arthritis, rheumatism
- Muscular tightness, backache, spondylitis
- Nervous weakness
- Immune system of body becomes weak
As far as effects of anger on behaviour are concerned, anger totally destroys the reasoning capacity and intellect for the time being. Buddhi says ‘good bye’ at the time of anger and quietly slips away. As a result, the angry man becomes highly emotional and impulsive. He himself doesn’t know what he is doing and talking about. He is under intoxication. He can do anything. He also loses his memory and concentration. He realizes his folly only after his anger settles down and buddhi comes back. It is then that he begins to reflect upon what he did. Great bonds of friendship and love which have developed and matured over years can be broken by this ferocious enemy within a moment.
Every episode of anger leaves a deep impact and impression in our inner mind (subconscious mind). Everytime we get angry, these impressions are further strengthened which increase our susceptibility to anger still more. These negative impressions continually make the water of this vast lake of subconscious mind dirty and turbulent leading to a generally aroused and restless mind. In this way ‘anger leads to increased anger’.
