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Anger does increase brain blood flow
ANI ^ | 4 Jul 2009 | ANI

Posted on 07/03/2009 12:23:09 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins

A piece of research has shown that anger or mental stress can increase the flow of blood in the brain.

Led by Tasneem Naqvi and Hahn Hyuhn from the University of Southern California and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the study involved a series of ultrasound experiments.

It showed that mental stress causes carotid artery dilation, and increases brain blood flow.

The researchers say that that dilatory reflex was absent in people with high blood pressure.

They evaluated carotid artery reactivity and brain blood flow in response to mental stress in 10 healthy young volunteers (aged between 19 and 27 years), 20 older healthy volunteers (aged 38 to 60 years) and in 28 patients with essential hypertension (aged 38 to 64 years).

It was found that in healthy subjects, mental stress caused vasodilation, which was accompanied by a net increase in brain blood flow.

However, in hypertensive subjects, mental stress produced no vasodilation and no significant change in brain blood flow.

In the experiments, the volunteers were set a series of tasks designed to provoke mental stress, including reading, arithmetic and anger recall tests.

The researchers used ultrasound imaging to measure the effects of this activity on the carotid artery and an artery within the brain, while also measuring blood pressure and heart rate.

"Inappropriate vasoconstriction, or lack of dilation in response to mental stress in stable coronary heart disease, contributes to the genesis of myocardial ischemia and confers an increased risk in patients with coronary artery disease. It will be interesting to see whether the lack of mental stress induced dilation we found defines subjects at increased risk of future cerebral events,” said Naqvi.

Lack of required blood flow increase to the brain during mental activities might potentially affect cognition and cerebral performance during complex cerebral tasks.

The study has been published in BioMed Central’’s open access journal Cardiovascular Ultrasound.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: anger; blood; brain; nervous

1 posted on 07/03/2009 12:23:09 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

They needed to research this?

In other news, water is wet....


2 posted on 07/03/2009 12:27:06 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

All they had to do was come to my house and watch me when I get a telemarketer call.


3 posted on 07/03/2009 12:28:46 PM PDT by DeaconRed (RL BURNSIDE Has it exactly right-"Everything's Broken" &" Its Bad You Know". . . . .)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
...anger or mental stress can increase the flow of blood in the brain....


4 posted on 07/03/2009 12:37:07 PM PDT by Alex Murphy ("Luther's phrase "faith alone" is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love" - BXVI)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Okay, so, they’re saying being angry once in a while is okay?


5 posted on 07/03/2009 12:37:09 PM PDT by McKayopectate
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Anger...one HELL of a motivator!


6 posted on 07/03/2009 1:04:22 PM PDT by RasterMaster (DUmocrats - the party of slavery, sedition, subversion, socialism & surrender)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

I should be the smartest woman in the world for the next 3 and a half years.


7 posted on 07/03/2009 1:37:52 PM PDT by Grammy (politics... poli ( many ) tics ( blood suckers ))
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
Increased blood flow doesn't necessarily lead to better critical thinking:


8 posted on 07/03/2009 2:28:16 PM PDT by mikrofon (With due respect to an American patriot)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

And after this scene, Kirk was finally able to outwit Kahn.

9 posted on 07/03/2009 2:55:55 PM PDT by Yossarian (DRAFT BARBOUR 2012!)
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