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Anger Can Slow Healing, Study Says
February 24, 2008 12:05 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Ohio State University researchers have found that patients with anger control problems heal more slowly than others.
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The study was conducted with 98 patients who agreed to receive standardized blister wounds. Researchers monitored the healing of these blisters over the course of eight days.
They found that people who identified themselves as having problems with anger control were 4.2 times more likely to take longer than four days to heal.
Lead researcher, Jean-Philippe Gouin told The Daily Telegraph, "We found that individuals who were able to control the expression of their anger healed faster standardized wounds. Therefore, the variable of interest in our study is a characteristic of the individual, not of the environment.”
Gouin also stated that this was the first study dealing with the impact of anger control on healing.
They found that people who identified themselves as having problems with anger control were 4.2 times more likely to take longer than four days to heal.
Lead researcher, Jean-Philippe Gouin told The Daily Telegraph, "We found that individuals who were able to control the expression of their anger healed faster standardized wounds. Therefore, the variable of interest in our study is a characteristic of the individual, not of the environment.”
Gouin also stated that this was the first study dealing with the impact of anger control on healing.
Headline Link: ‘Losing Your Temper Can Delay Healing’
Researchers believe that the delay in healing caused by anger may make patients more susceptible to infection at the site of the wound and could mean longer hospital stays.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Background: The Ohio State University study
The BBC spoke with Steve Bloom, professor of metabolic medicine at Imperial College, London, about the Ohio State University study and other research into the impact of stress on the body. "Your body prioritizes and sorts one thing out at a time, so if you are stressed—angry in this case—your body works through that before it gets on with the process of healing,” Bloom said.
Source: The BBC
The abstract of “The Influence of Anger Expression on Wound Healing” is available free from Web site Science Direct, and the full text can be downloaded for a fee.
Source: Science Direct
Related Topics: Combating stress
Writing for the the San Francisco Chronicle, Chris Colin interviews Don Goewey, former executive director of the International Center for Attitudinal Healing in Sausalito and current head of ProAttitude, which works to reduce stress in the workplace through neuroscience techniques. Paraphrasing Goewey, Colin writes, “Chronic stress degrades higher mental activity, he explains—memory, attention span, decision-making. In impairing the production of serotonin, it diminishes the brain's ability to regulate mood.”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Mayo Clinic offers tips on how to reduce stress through relaxation techniques, including exercise, hypnosis, massage, meditation and yoga.
Source: Mayo Clinic
© 2008 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
