Anger Slows Injury Recovery
February 20, 2008
People who can't control their anger take longer to recovery from injury, says a University of Ohio study in the journal Brain, Behavior, Immunity.
Researchers inflicted minor burns on the arms of 98 volunteers and then monitored the healing process for eight days, Agence France-Presse reported. Before the burns were inflicted, the participants underwent psychological tests to determine where they ranked on an anger scale.
The study found that people who had trouble controlling expressions of anger were four times more likely to need more than four days for their burn wounds to heal than those who were able to control their anger.
Participants unable to control their anger also had higher secretions of the stress hormone cortisol, which may partly explain their longer healing time, the researchers said.
They suggested that anger control therapy could help certain patients heal more quickly after injury or surgery, AFP reported.
Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.