Stress is the root cause of or a contributor to a number of problems in people. Every year, more and more physical and mental health problems are linked to stress, and it is often referred to as a silent killer. Everyone experiences stress on some level, and many people profess that you can make stress work for you with practice, but there are individuals whose lives are consumed by stress. People who cannot manage stress become its victim and the consequences are not pretty. It is very important to learn to manage stress to ward off its devastating effects.

The physical affects of stress are known by most adults. When the workload gets heavy or the expectations start to stack up, the pressure builds and soon you find yourself wringing your hands and clenching your teeth. At first, the stress seems to be emotional and internal. But when it begins to last too long, you notice a headache coming on, or a stomach ache or perhaps cold symptoms. Stress can cause or contribute to a number of physical ailments, such as ulcers, acne, cancer, autoimmune disorders, infections and much more. Stress has been found to weaken the immune system and disturb sleep patterns.

Extended or chronic stress is also extremely hard on a person’s mental health. The toll that stress takes on a person’s thought and behavioral patterns is immense. Stress gives a person feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, failure, exhaustion, tension and confusion. It makes them less productive and less accurate. Living under these conditions begins to mess with a person’s head. They begin to realistically ask themselves questions such as “Will this stress ever end?” and “Am I capable at all?” and “What is wrong with me?” Stress can come from within a person or from without, but all forms of stress are detrimental when they are extended and immersive.

Anger is a destructive emotion to those who possess it. Anger is a necessary emotion to some degree, and we all have to feel it and process it in order to come out on top of it. But where it becomes mentally unhealthy is when a person develops a pattern of frequent anger in situations that do not warrant it. An anger management problem can become the bain of a person’s existence and can slowly unravel their lives, damaging their relationships, their vocations and their reputation. Some of the ways anger problems damage your life are as follows:

• Anger makes you antisocial. Anger problems are not a becoming trait on anyone, and they push people away. A person’s anger problems are stressful to have to deal with and most people choose not to, preferring to avoid the angry person. Anger and antisocial behavior often go together because the angry person sets a lifelong pattern of driving people away. They may initially attract friends, but ultimately they scare them away with their emotional violence.
• Anger makes you dysfunctional. Because anger problems are not mentally healthy, they make a person dysfunctional and unable to cooperate with society. Angry people often keep others at an arm’s length because dysfunctional relationships are their pattern. They often cannot go very far in life because of their dysfunctional personality. They are passed over for promotions and leadership roles because of their tendency to lash out. They cannot manage a heavy task load because stress aggravates their anger issues.
• Anger harms your mental and physical health. Above all else, anger is simply not good for you, mentally or physically. Anger is a very stressful emotion to your brain and body, releasing the stress chemical cortisol, making your heart rate speed up and your stomach twist into knots. Living in this state frequently wears the body down and overworks the mental faculties.