5 Stressful Emotions That Can Affect Your Health And How To Deal With Them

Your emotions have a much bigger impact on your physical health than you might think

Your body is flooded with adrenalin and norepinephrine when you're stressed
Your body is flooded with adrenalin and norepinephrine when you're stressed
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Your emotional health has a much bigger impact on your physical health than you might think. Whether you're angry, worried, jealous, or stressed, here are the health risks that you might face – and some tips that you can adopt to help yourself process and move on.

When You're Angry

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Your body experiences a surge of testosterone and your heart rate and blood pressure increase.

The health risk: You're almost five times more likely to have a heart attack in the two hours after an angry outburst, and your risk of stroke is three times higher. And anger motivates us to seek rewards, which is why a glass of wine might look more appealing than ever.

Regain control by: Asking yourself if you're hungry. Hunger reduces the brain's serotonin levels, which affects our ability to regulate anger, so to avoid losing your temper, don't skip meals. And try using your non-dominant hand as much as possible – people who did that for 14 days were better at controlling their aggression.

When You Worry

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When you worry about things before they happen or when you make a mistake, the decision-making part of your brain struggles, forcing other brain regions to work harder.

The health risk: Your brain won't perform as well on everyday tasks and gets fatigued more quickly. Plus, if worrying raises your stress levels, your risk of Alzheimer's disease rises, with research proving that women who tick both of those boxes double their dementia risk.

Regain control by: Writing down what's worrying you, which physically clears brain space for other tasks. And don't shelve the worry – suppressing it increases anxiety.

When You Feel Jealous

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When you feel jealous or envious, your brain's anterior cingulate cortex fires up. The same region is activated by socially painful situations, like being ostracised by friends, which explains why jealousy evokes such strong reactions. And if you're taking a contraceptive pill that contains oestrogen, your response could be even greater.

The health risk: Jealousy makes you blind to objects in your line of sight because your brain is distracted by processing its green-eyed thoughts. That's dangerous during tasks that demand attention and carry a risk, like driving.

Regain control by: Turning malicious envy (the bitter variety) into benign envy (think: 'If they can do it, I can too.'). Dutch research confirms the shift in thinking translates into real results. And have a social media detox. More than 30 per cent of users feel frustrated when they visit Facebook and the biggest reason of envy is friends' posts.

When You Feel Guilty

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A few different brain regions are activated, including one that subconsciously spurs you to do nice things for the person you've wronged, even before you're ready to own up and apologise.

The health risk: Guilt makes you feel physically heavier so you'll avoid exercise, say US researchers. You'll also focus on small details at the expense of the big picture, so instead of declining a chocolate bar, you scrutinise the kilojoule content of different bars, before picking one to eat.

Regain control by: Owning up to whatever's making you feel guilty, but make sure you spill all the beans. Confessing does provide relief, but guilt escalates when you only tell the partial truth.

When You're Stressed

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Your body is flooded with adrenalin and norepinephrine, which makes your heart beat faster, and cortisol, which shuts down non-essential body functions. And your brain's prefrontal cortex suffers, so paying attention and thinking clearly becomes difficult. Long-term stress switches on genes the are normally silent, upsetting the body's balance of hormones.

The health risk: You'll make riskier decisions and might develop sleep bruxism, so you grind your teeth at night. You'll also get more headaches and are more likely to catch a virus. In the long term, stress increases the risk of age-related memory loss, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression.

Regain control by: Doing more exercise. Physical activity reorganises the brain to be more resilient to stress, by training it to automatically switch off regions that promote anxiety when it's exposed to stressful situations.

Text: Bauer Syndication

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