Why being angry puts One Foot in the Grave for elderly

IT may prompt all the Victor Meldrews to yell ‘I don’t believe it!’ – but being angry in old age may be bad for you.

Irate elderly people are more likely to have chronic illnesses, a study has revealed.

They also have higher levels of inflammation – an overreaction of the immune system which can lead to heart disease, cancer and osteoarthritis.

Those who rage against the dying of the light may risk illness due to the stress of being less mobile – and less able to do things they once enjoyed.

Researchers found people aged 80 and over who reported being angry every day had higher levels of inflammation and more things wrong with them. But those who were sad in old age did not see the same effect, which leads experts to believe sadness could sometimes be beneficial. Being sad about getting older helps people to ‘psychologically adjust’ to what they can no longer do.

Meaghan Barlow, who led the study at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, said: ‘Our study showed that anger can lead to the development of chronic illnesses, whereas sadness did not.’ The study, published in the journal Psychology and Ageing, saw 226 people aged 59 to 93 quizzed on their emotions every day for a week.

Their blood was then tested daily for a molecule released by inflammation.

Participants were also asked how many chronic diseases they had from a list of 17. Those of 80 and over who were angry had 3.5 chronic illnesses on average, while an average of 2.5 illnesses were seen in those who were sad.

They had higher levels of inflammation, but the same changes were not seen in younger pensioners. The authors state that anger in old age may be ‘dysfunctional’ as the elderly try and fail to do things old age makes difficult.

‘Anger can lead to chronic illness’