4 Ways to Achieve Anger Relief and Prevent Adrenal Gland Failure

When channeled, anger can be a productive emotion, prompting you to make positive changes in your life. Uncontrolled anger, on the other hand, can wreak havoc on your health and your relationships. Here are some things to avoid when you’re angry, and some strategies to use for anger relief.

Don’t:

1. Vent - Though it’s a common way of dealing with anger, venting tends to amplify the feeling. One study shows that such strategies as hitting pillows increases future aggression. Talking about your anger can help validate your feelings, but does not actually decrease your anger. Another study found that reading online rants caused people to feel angrier.
2. Post on social media - While it may offer some satisfaction in the moment, posting something you might regret is worse than saying something you might regret, because it’s out there for the world to see.
3. Dwell - Obsessing on the situation that caused you to become angry does nothing to resolve the situation.
4. Act irrationally - Yelling, screaming, stomping, and storming isn’t helpful and other people may be less likely to take you seriously. When you are so angry you have trouble acting rationally, take a break to calm yourself down, then go back and try to resolve matters.

Do:

1. Practice compassion - It’s very difficult to stay angry when you’re doing something nice for someone else. If you try to do something nice for the person you’re angry with, the act may also help to dissipate their anger. If this is not practical for some reason, a random act of kindness for another person will still help you feel better.
2. Practice gratitude - Grateful people are happier than those who are not, and happiness is incompatible with anger. Focus on things you are grateful for, and feel the anger relief that comes naturally. While it’s not necessary to be grateful for the person you’re angry with, if you can find something to be thankful for, you may find yourself feeling better about that person.
3. Talk - Avoid continuing the argument by waiting until you and the other person are both feeling calmer, but communication is important. If you don’t talk about it, you’ll end up feeling resentful, which makes you more likely to blow up later.
4. Pray or meditate - Studies show that people who pray experienced less anger than those who do not. If you aren’t comfortable praying, meditating can also help.

Dr. Lam’s Perspective on Anger Relief and Adrenal Health Failure

We all get angry from time to time, it is the natural consequence of interacting with other people socially. What is unhealthy, though, is to fixate on anger, hold onto it and let it affect your life. Anger is stressful, and the adrenals, the stress control center of the body, are tasked to keep the internal equilibrium in balance no matter how angry you get. But the more often and longer you get and stay angry, the greater the risk of overworking the adrenals, and experiencing adrenal gland failure or dysfunction.

Those with adrenal fatigue know quite well how this can have great detrimental effect on health and quality of life with symptoms ranging from exhaustion to weight gain and insomnia. To make sure you don’t fall prey to the condition of adrenal fatigue, or if you already have it and are trying to recover, make sure you identify and control the sources of stress in your life, including anger. Toxic relationships are one of the common triggers of negative emotions. Make you are mindful of this and stay away from such unpleasant triggers.

Anger and the NEM Stress Response

The NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response is activated whenever our bodies experience something that our mind perceives as a threat. The NEM Stress Response is a description of the entire process through which our bodies react to stress. This response is triggered when we are angry and there is a chain reaction that affects everything from our energy levels to our hormone output.

When we experience anger and let it become a common emotion in our lives, we open ourselves up to high blood-cholesterol, excessive weight gain, and a feeling of overall exhaustion. Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) can become a reality for someone who has out of control emotional responses on a frequent basis. The good news is that we all have the ability to shape some of the situation we are in and slowly make some positive changes to reduce the burden placed on the adrenal glands.

Taking an active and meaningful role in our personal responsibility to maintain a positive outlook is a must. Someone who is constantly negative and angry will have a nearly impossible task when trying to recover from AFS. The heavy stress triggered by anger places the body into a fight and flight mode which it takes time to recover from. When this is a consistent occurrence in your life, it’s time for a change. It is possible to take charge of your situation, seek anger relief, and place yourself on a positive path to AFS recovery.