Dear Secretadmirer,
First of all, do understand you are not alone and the symptoms you
experience when you get mad are very common. Many people share your
same reaction to the emotion of anger, i.e. weakness and shaking or
shivering. Yes, there is a cause for it, and no, it doesn?t have
anything to do with masturbation, which, by the way, is also a normal
and very widespread activity. You mentioned your confusion because
you?re not necessarily afraid of the person you?re angry with. That
comment shows you?re aware that fear can cause these physical
reactions. Well, so can anger.
One of the first things that happens when you experience the feeling
of anger is that your brain stimulates the adrenal glands, which sit on
top of your kidneys, to release adrenaline. That in turn signals the
body to release fatty sugars, increasing your blood sugar ? all this
to make energy available to the body. This is the classic ?fight or
flight? response to stress, and anger is one trigger of this type of
response, along with fear or a perception of danger. Ever been
startled, and then surprised to find yourself weak and shaky a few
moments later? That?s another example of this type of this same type
of physical response. In the case of anger, it?s just stronger. But
what happens when you don?t actually have to flee or fight is that the
blood sugar that rose so rapidly falls just as fast, and that, combined
with the leftover, unused adrenaline in your system, is what causes
the shakes and weakness. The more angry you are and/or the longer you
stay angry, the more pronounced the reaction will be.
********************************************************************************
Here are links to some general information about it:
?The physiology of anger is the same as it is for several other
emotions; a state of heightened arousal of the nervous system causes
a rush of adrenalin that increases the heart rate and makes blood
vessels contract. This results in such physical reactions as dry
mouth, pounding heart, dizziness, feeling faint, shaking, cold hands,
red face, headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, crying, or simply feeling
a tremendous need to release bottled-up energy in some way. ?
http://dynamicbalance.homestead.com/Tools_Anger.html
?During an outburst of anger, heart rate goes up to 180 beats per
minute or even higher compared to the regular heart rate averaging
about 80. The blood pressure too goes up, 220 to 130 or even higher,
compared to normal readings of 120 to 80. Other harmful physical and
chemical changes take place. Body uses up sugar extremely fast
creating a sugar deficiency. As a result an angry person shakes in
anger.? http://www.mindpub.com/art083.
Here?s a good article on the physiology of stress (including anger):
http://www.dstress.com/stress.phys.
This excerpt from ?Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion? by Carol Tavri
has a very good description of the many ways in which anger manifests
itself not only in your emotions, but your body:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/grieve/av.htm
And this site also has some good information on the physiology of
anger. It says, in part, ?...A lot of energy is used by your body
when you are angry. You might find yourself shaking.?
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/familyworks/anger-01.html
********************************************************************************
Here are a few other, more scientific, explanations of what?s going on
with your body that are having the effect of making you weak and shaky
when you?re mad:
This fascinating account of an experiment on determinants of emotion
with young college-age men also talks about the effects of adrenaline
causing shakes. ?...subjects were given an adrenaline injection and
warned of the ?side effects? of the drug (hand shake, heart pounding,
dry mouth, etc.)...? http://www.holah.karoo.net/schachterstudy.
This site is promoting a certain type of medical treatment, but it
does have some good information. After giving a very thorough
explanation of the steps involved in the ?fight or flight? response,
it goes on to say that ?This paragraph is the most important in this
article...so pay attention: If during these stressful events, the
Emotional Brain or Limbic System is involved (we feel fear, anger,
resentment, etc.), it then sends a message to the Brain Stem to
maintain the Stress Response ....?
http://www.placeforhealing.com/nsawork.htm
If you want to get even more technical about it, many studies say that
the adrenal glands actually release ?noradrenaline? (also called ?
norepinephrine?) in response to anger, and ?adrenaline? (also called ?
epinephrine?) in response to fear. Their action on the body is
somewhat different. Here?s a chart comparing the physical responses
of each:
http://www.mds.qmw.ac.uk/biomed/kb/resources/endocrinology%20resourse/hormones/adr%20and%20na%20compared.htm
More information here:
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/A/Adrenals.html
here:
http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/bio/humans/brainnervous/b00613d.
html ,
and here (scroll to bottom): http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.
********************************************************************************
Of course, anger is a normal human emotion, and nothing will stop you
from experiencing it altogether, but seeing that this response
distresses you, you might like to know that many people have, through
some sort of anger management training, learned to control their
reactions to anger, including physical reactions. It?s not as easy as
just willing yourself not to feel angry, but with the right knowledge,
techniques and determination, it IS possible to actually reduce the
frequency of your anger, as well as it?s negative effects.
Here are links to some sites that give information on anger management.
This one is about playing golf, of all things, but it has not only
some excellent descriptions of the effects, including physical, of
anger, but also very good suggestions on getting a handle on it: http:/
/216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:6my3_fiPNb0J:www.mindunderpar.com/docs/
article.pdf+%22the+physiology+of+anger%22&hl=en&ie=
A pretty good and comprehensive article on controlling anger:
http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/anger.html
?The Anger Toolkit:? http://www.angermgmt.com/angertoolkit.html
This article by Dr. Joseph Mercola is entitled, ?How to Get Rid of
Your Anger:?
http://www.mercola.com/2003/aug/9/anger.htm
This site gives an approach to managing anger from a Buddhist
perspective: http://www.anger-management-techniques.org/
********************************************************************************
But anger managment?s not all about psychological techniques and
mental attitudes. Believe it or not, what you eat can play a role.
Here?re a couple of interesting discussions about the relationship
between diet and anger:
This article by Dr. Joseph Mercola is entitled, ?How to Get Rid of
Your Anger,? and has a variety of suggestions, including dietary
modifications: http://www.mercola.com/2003/aug/9/anger.
This site recommends eating fatty foods to sooth anger:
http://bestlowcarbs.com/article1063.html
This ayurvedic(East Indian) site has some unusual suggestions for
dealing with anger. I can?t endorse any of them, of course, but it
might be worthwhile to check a few of them out:
http://www.dhyansanjivani.org/anger.asp
Interesting article: ?Chew Your Anger ... Away:?
http://www.sikhnet.com/Sikhnet/discussion.nsf/0/1BA7F999EC4C836A87256CE4001E9889?OpenDocument
********************************************************************************
And finally, to address your concerns about masturbation, here are a
few links to some serious articles on the subject issue that, together
with the information given above, will hopefully lay your fears to
rest about any negative connection between masturbation and your
physical response to anger.
?Masturbation? (statistics):
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/g2602/0003/2602000366/p1/article.jhtml
More statistics:
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2372/4_37/72272306/p2/article.jhtml?term=
?Masturbation Throughout History:?
http://www.jackinworld.com/library/articles/history.html
?Facts of Life: Masturbation Questions:?
http://male101.com/faqs/frequent-masturbation.html
?Masturbation From All Points of View:?
http://www.religioustolerance.org/masturba.htm
********************************************************************************
I do hope the information provided adequately addresses your concerns,
and provides you with a good understanding of the actual causes and
mechanics of your individual reaction to the emotion of anger, as well
as reassurance that you are entirely normal in that regard. Please do
use the ?Request Clarification? feature to ask if you don?t understand
something, or if anything isn?t clear, so I can be sure you?re happy
with this answer and have received what you were looking for.
Best regards,
Byrd
Search terms used:
anger shivering OR shaking
?physiology of anger?
anger symptoms shaking adrenaline "blood sugar"
adrenaline noradrenaline
?fight or flight?
anger physical response OR reaction
anger management
anger diet
anger effect diet OR food OR eat ?buspar
masturbation statistics OR studies (*Note: If you use this search,
click on ?Preferences? and turn on site filtering to get really
relevant information and not just a lot of objectionable sites.) |
