Anger control harness its healing power.

How well you control your anger has a powerful impact on your body's ability to heal, according to a recent study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

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Researchers at Ohio State University gave 98 study participants blisters on an arm and monitored how quickly the wound healed. The subjects, ages 24 to 72, also completed questionnaires that assessed how they expressed and managed anger.

Individuals who managed anger well healed faster, within four days. Those who did not control anger well were four times more likely to take more than four days to heal. They also produced higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone linked to delayed healing. Slow healing can increase the risk of infection of the wound, further prolonging recovery.

"One way or another, anger will compromise your immune response," says Ronald Glaser, Ph.D., one of the study's authors. Your response to anger could affect how fast you heal after surgery, for example.

Think, then act. Other studies have shown that two main ways of dealing with anger--letting it out or holding it in, rather than controlling it--can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. But in the Ohio State study, "we found this third factor--anger control--to be more important for healing," says Jean-Philippe Gouin, one of the authors.

Know your anger. Once you realize that something is making you angry, take a moment to think before deciding what to do with that anger, Gouin suggests. Reasoning with yourself, a process known as cognitive training, has been shown to be helpful in ...