Anxiety and anger both stem from the body’s stress response and share physical symptoms like increased heart rate, often making them closely linked and able to fuel each other.

Anxiety and anger are closely linked emotional responses that often stem from a perceived threat or loss of control.

While anxiety typically arises from fear and anticipation of danger, anger can emerge as a defensive reaction to that fear.

Both emotions activate similar physiological responses in the brain, making it common for individuals to experience them together or interchangeably.

Anxiety and anger share a lot of territory.

Both emotions cause physical symptoms by releasing powerful hormones into your bloodstream. Both can be triggered by everyday experiences. And both can be either improved or worsened by your thought patterns.

Here’s what we know about how anger and anxiety interact.

Part of the human condition

Everyone gets angry. Everyone feels anxious now and then.

In fact, there are times when anxiety is logical, and anger is an appropriate response — one that can lead to important changes.

During periods of heightened stress and tension, when conflicts in your personal life are amplified by events in the wider world, anxiety and anger may even seem to be a new normal.

Same physiological symptoms

When you’re angry or anxious, your body secretes hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline, that prepare you to fight or to flee.

During anxious or angry moments, you’re likely to experience:

  • rapid heart rate
  • chest tightness
  • clenched or tight muscles
  • rushes of heat
  • gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea
  • tension headaches

These symptoms will dissipate quickly under typical circumstances. But if you have long-term issues with anger or anxiety, the release of these hormones over and over may lead to health problems.

Same psychological roots

Psychologists have equated both anxiety and anger with the loss of control.

In other words, when you’re confronted with a stressor you feel you’re not equipped to deal with, you may become anxious.

If you feel even more threatened, that anxiety can quickly morph into anger.

In both instances, an outside stimulus threatens your sense of safety and control over your environment. Anger may simply be a more chemically-charged version of anxiety.

Effect on health

If anger and anxiety feel unmanageable to you, or if people tell you that the way you handle anger and anxiety causes problems, it may be a good time to get help.

Excessive anger and anxiety can be harmful to your mental and physical health.

Researchers have found, for example, that anger is elevated in anxiety disorders, particularly when paired with depression.

The study suggests that specific anxiety disorders like generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and panic disorder are strongly associated with elevated anger levels.

Excessive anxiety and anger may also lead to:

Anger is a symptom of several conditions. If you experience too much anger or anger that’s hard to manage, you may want to learn more about these conditions:

Likewise, anxiety has been associated with a number of other conditions, including:

Many of the interventions and strategies that work to calm anxiety are also effective ways to manage anger.

Physical exercise

If you’re looking for an immediate reduction in both anxiety and anger, get moving.

Research from 2023 found that regular physical activity can help manage anxiety and anger symptoms by improving mood, enhancing sleep, and supporting overall mental well-being.

These benefits are linked to exercise’s positive effects on brain function, including regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which plays a key role in stress response.

Mindfulness practice

Mindfulness is a meditation practice in which you focus on what you’re sensing and feeling in the current moment without trying to judge, change, or interpret your thoughts and feelings.

Mindfulness exercises have been shown to reduce both anxiety and anger.

Research from 2021, for instance, found that mindfulness practice helps manage anger and anxiety by reducing anger rumination and enhancing emotional regulation.

The study showed that increased mindfulness as a trait mediates the relationship between reduced repetitive negative thinking and greater forgiveness, suggesting mindfulness can be a valuable tool in coping with both anger and anxiety.

Breathing exercises

Slow breathing has powerful effects on the physiological symptoms of anxiety and anger.

One of the measures of good health is your heart rate variability (HRV), the variation in the amount of time between your heartbeats.

If you’re feeling threatened, your HRV is low. The time between beats doesn’t change a lot. Low HRV is linked to anxiety, depression, and heart disease.

A higher HRV means you can easily adapt to changes in your environment. Your heart speeds up and slows down appropriately.

ResearchersTrusted Source have found that slow breathing (fewer than six breaths per minute) can boost your HRV and leave you feeling less anxious, less angry, and more relaxed.

Massage

Many people find gentle Swedish massage therapy to be a relaxing experience, and research suggests it may also help regulate emotions.

Research from 2022 found that Swedish massage therapy (SMT) effectively reduces anxiety symptoms, with the greatest improvements occurring during the first six weeks of treatment.

This suggests that a relatively short course of SMT may also help manage anger-related symptoms by alleviating anxiety, offering a promising complementary approach for emotional regulation.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works on the premise that you may have unhealthy thought patterns that are worsening your anger and anxiety.

Working with a therapist trained in CBT may help you identify what triggers your anxiety or anger. You can also learn to notice thoughts that are distorting your view of reality.

Once you identify them, you can learn to reframe your thoughts in a way that helps you manage anger and anxiety.

This process isn’t a quick fix, but research shows that CBT is very effective for treating chronic anxiety and anger issues.

CBT for Black girls and women

Professors at Kent State University have developed culturally sensitive CBT methods to help Black girls and women process anger and anxiety from dealing with chronic racism and sexism.

Sister circle support groups and appsTrusted Source using musical lyrics to reframe negative thoughts have both proven effective at managing difficult anger and anxiety symptoms.

Talk with a mental health professional or doctor if you’re experiencing any of the following scenarios:

  • Friends, family, or coworkers have expressed concern about your handling of anger or anxiety.
  • You aren’t welcome in certain places of business because of how you express your feelings.
  • Episodes of anger or anxiety are frequent and intense.
  • You express anger in verbally or physically aggressive ways.
  • You’re concerned that anger or anxiety may be making you depressed.
  • Your anxiety has caused you to begin avoiding important events and encounters.
  • Anger or anxiety has caused you to have thoughts of self-harm.
  • You feel your anxiety is interfering with your ability to function or to enjoy your life.

Anger and anxiety are closely related. Because they’re both typical responses to perceived threats, they help us survive dangerous situations.

These two emotions spark similar hormonal surges in the body, and they also share similar psychological triggers.

If you experience anger or anxiety too often or too intensely, it can affect your mental and physical health and can lead to problems in your relationships. A therapist or doctor may recommend:

  • exercise
  • mindfulness practice
  • breathing techniques
  • massage
  • cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

These are ways to reduce the stress that excessive anger and anxiety can cause. Learning to manage these two powerful emotions will help you live a longer, happier life.