Feeling angry? Don’t blow off steam. Try these tips instead

After a bad night’s sleep, you squabble with your kids at breakfast. Then a neighbour parks you in. When you finally get to work an hour late, your boss makes one more impossible demand. No wonder you’re angry with the world. So what is the best way to control your anger? Is it going for a run to blow off some steam? Or would you be better off meditating? I’m a psychology researcher with a special interest in anger and aggression. Here’s what the evidence says does and doesn’t work. When you’re angry Feeling angry is not just about having a feeling. Your body becomes aroused – your face turns red, your heart rate, blood pressure and respiration rate increase, and you sweat. On any given day, 22% of us report being angry. Most of this anger doesn’t turn into aggression (harming other people). However, about 8% of people say their anger negatively impacts their lives. 1. Exercise can backfire You may feel like you need to “blow off some steam”, in other words, do something active to ease the anger and stave off any aggressive urges. This “catharsis” is an idea popularised by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Now it has found its way into modern life. But some of these physical activities can increase your anger and aggression. That includes going for a run or climbing the stairs. Let’s suppose you argue with your partner and you correctly interpret that feeling of arousal as being angry. But going for a run can also make you aroused or “amped up”. So when you return from your run, even a relatively innocuous comment can trigger more anger or aggression. But you don’t have to blow off steam to try to alleviate anger. For most people, anger will dissipate within 30 minutes all by itself. Read more: Anger, aggression and violence: it matters that we know the difference 2. Mulling it over and over won’t help Replaying the event constantly in our minds and thinking about how we might get even is all part of angry rumination. This involves diving deep into thinking about the causes and consequences of a personally important provocation and how to respond. Rumination may feel like we’re processing the event in a helpful way. And many people who struggle with controlling their anger tend to use rumination, albeit ineffectively. Many experiments show angry rumination actually increases or maintains anger, and increases aggressive behaviour. That’s because rather than looking for solutions and effectively processing the anger-inducing event, people just focus on their angry feelings, and the causes and consequences of the event. Read more: How can I stop overthinking everything? A clinical psychologist offers solutions 3. Distraction works Distraction, perhaps the opposite of rumination, works much better. It’s also one of the simplest things you can do to alleviate angry feelings. My colleagues and I have done this in experiments by asking participants to think about a neutral topic, such as the layout of their university campus. But you could play a non-aggressive game on your phone, read a book, or recall happy memories. This distraction allows the arousal to dissipate and, along with it, the feelings of anger. In one experiment we did with university students, about 85% distracted themselves and reduced their anger. 4. Sit with your anger, don’t react As anger is a high-arousal state, another way to combat angry feelings is to induce a state of low arousal. When colleagues and I grouped together the best available evidence in a meta-analysis, we found mindfulness meditation is effective in reducing anger and aggression. In simple terms, mindfulness involves being fully aware of your body, thoughts, feelings and emotions in the present moment, in an accepting and non-judgemental way. It’s something you can learn to do, using a free app, such as Smiling Mind. In addition to lowering arousal, mindfulness involves accepting the anger. That means “sitting” with the anger and not reacting to it, which makes it difficult to feel angry and aggressive. In another meta-analysis, researchers found low-arousal activities such as relaxation exercises, meditation and yoga lowered anger. This included in university students, people with criminal histories, people of all ages, and people from Eastern and Western cultures. 5. Look at it another way Another way is to use a strategy called “cognitive reappraisal”. This is a broad term for thinking about the anger provocation in an objective way that reduces your anger. You could do this by looking at the situation from an outsider’s perspective. How would a passerby evaluate the argument you two are having? You could imagine the provocation as if you were floating above yourself and the person who provoked you. You might consider that the person who provoked you is experiencing a lot of stress in their lives. The key is you’re creating psychological distance between the anger and you to create more objective thinking and less-personal responses. People who tend to habitually use cognitive reappraisal are less angry, less aggressive, and show more healthy cardiovascular responses to provocation. What’s the take-home message? By using the techniques that work, and avoiding the others, your relationships, wellbeing, and even heart health can improve. However, if you find this doesn’t work, and your anger episodes are frequent, distressing to yourself or others, long-lasting, or accompanied by aggression, it may be time to seek professional help.