14 DAY TRIAL // Swedish researchers have recently finished compiling a new report, which seems to suggest that holding in the anger caused by colleagues or bosses at the workplace could be detrimental to people's health. The correlation is especially true in the case of working men. In their case, it was revealed that the risk of heart attacks more than doubles. The investigation was made on a large number of males in Sweden and so the results are representative for the entire population, the BBC News reports.
More than 2,755 employees from the city of Stockholm were observed in the new survey. None of the participants had suffered from heart attacks before the study began. Each of the participants was asked about the state of their relationships with their colleagues at work, as well as about the problems that they had with people at the work place. According to the team, the relation between heart diseases and held-up anger is clearly visible and statistically very significant. Details of the conclusion appear in the latest issue of the respected Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The researchers also invented a new word to describe the various processes associated with men keeping all of their accumulated anger deep inside – covert coping. They argue that this is naturally wrong and that men should seek council on their problems, or at least talk to their closest friends about them. Getting things off your chest may have more health advantages then previously thought, and could also see you reaching old age without running heightened risks of suffering from heart attacks. The paper also demonstrated that a host of negative behavior that some apparently develop over night may also be a direct consequence of their troubles at work.
Bad temper at home, headaches, or stomach aches were all associated with stress and work-related anger. The symptoms appeared regardless if the study participants avoided conflict, distanced themselves from it, or face it head-on. “There has been research before pointing in this direction but the surprise is that the association between pent-up anger and heart disease was such a strong one,” says Dr Constanze Leineweber, the leader of the new study. She is based at the Stress Research Institute, in Stockholm.
“I think men can't help how they behave in conflict situations – it's not something they think about, it's just how they react instinctively. If you are smoking and don't exercise you would be much more conscious of the risk,” the expert adds. “Stress itself is not a risk factor for heart and circulatory disease, but some people's responses to stress, such as smoking or overeating, can increase your risk. We all find different things stressful and symptoms of stress can vary, but the important thing is that we need to find ways of coping with it in our lives in a positive way, whether at work or home,” concludes British Heart Foundation senior cardiac nurse, Judy O'Sullivan.