There is a Buddhist teaching that says you should conquer an angry person by not being angry, conquer a bad person by being good, conquer a stingy person by giving and conquer a liar by telling the truth.
Speaking of conquering an angry person, sometimes there really is no need, because anger leads to stress, and stress will conquer the person in no time. When we are stressed out, we can't sleep. When we can't sleep, we can't exercise because our energy will be low (from being used by anger).
Some people smoke when they are under stress, or some overeat to cope with stress. It can be concluded that people who are stressed will get physically weaker due to lack of exercise, obesity, high blood pressure, high sugar level and high cholesterol level. Smokers are also at added risk due to having narrowed arteries.
The question is, if a person is under stress but continues to exercise, does not smoke, eats healthy food and keeps their weight in check, is it still unhealthy to be stressed out? The answer is yes. It is never healthy to be stressed!
Do not confuse stress with anger. Anger is even more dangerous and it can literally kill us. When we are angry, our blood pressure shoots through the roof (especially in people who are usually moody). The heartbeat becomes faster. When we are angry, our face can turn red (ask someone to photograph you when you are extremely angry _ you'll be surprised). Older people or those who are unhealthy should be careful not to get angry.
In angry or stressful moments, our body will function poorly. Adrenaline is released, causing the heart to beat faster and the blood pressure to rise _ perhaps to the point that the coronary artery is narrowed and oxygen and blood supply to the heart is reduced. A study looked at just-fed cats who were angered soon after the meal. It was found that the food was left undigested in the stomach for three to six hours longer than usual, meaning that anger can also cause indigestion.
Anger is a burst of emotion that occurs when things don't go as expected. If we don't learn how to control our emotions, anger can lead to a heart attack. If we hold on to anger (with or without knowing), we can become vengeful and obsessed with the emotion. Negative thoughts lead to stress, which can cause narrowed arteries. In other words, anger can kill you, either instantly or in the long run.
When we are angry at someone, what it means is we are letting that person take control of our emotions and health. The more we hate someone, the more that person is in our head and bosses us around, controlling our daily life, health and happiness. So, why give them that power?
People who are always angry lose their radiance because they are unhappy and unhealthy. There are many easy ways to get rid of anger. Unfortunately, a lot of people choose to stay angry. Buddha said that we should be aware of the consequences of anger, and let the feeling go. Bad behaviour should never be repaid with anger, as anger is also a bad behaviour.
A patient of mine was in his early 50s. His cholesterol level had always been high and he was slightly chubby because he did not like to exercise. His sugar level was also high but had never been treated. He came to see me because he felt a stabbing pain in his left chest, especially when he fought with his wife. Each time the pain would last about five to 10 minutes. Soon he learned that the feeling was a result of being angry, so he tried to walk away from his wife when they argued. He did not want to do anything more than take medicine to treat his heart problem, but the condition became worse. (I assume his wife caught up with him and continued the argument.)
He still did not want to undergo a coronary angiogram (colour test), and insisted that he could handle this problem by walking away even further from his wife. One day he was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night due to myocardial infarction.
His children told me that he had had a fight with his wife (again) and when he walked away, she followed. He became extremely angry and could not breathe.
That time he had to stay longer in the hospital because his condition was very bad. He also had heart failure and his heart was only working 30% of its full capacity. However, the colour test result showed that there was no clogging in his coronary artery, only mild narrowing of the arteries.
Previously he had hearing problems but that got even worse after being discharged from the hospital following the heart attack, possibly due to his condition and the treatment. I told him to seek help from an ear doctor but he refused.
His ear condition continued to worsen _ I had to shout when trying to communicate with him. Strangely, he never felt pain in his chest again. He was noticeably calmer and happier. His children told me that he never fought with his wife again, so I asked him (shouting, of course) how he could control his emotion so well. He shouted back: "Because I can no longer hear my wife nagging!"
Dr Nithi Mahanonda is a consultant cardiologist and interventionist at Perfect Heart Institute, Piyavate Hospital.