Areas › Anger › Cool the body first
Anger leaves fuel in the body with nowhere to go. Spend it on something physical, without replaying the argument while you do.
This is not getting it off your chest. The target is the surplus energy, so stairs, a brisk walk, or a hard ten minutes of almost anything will do the job. The moment you notice yourself rehearsing what you should have said, bring your attention back to your legs or your breathing. You want to come back tired and quiet, not sharpened.
Qur’an and Sunnah
In His mercy He has given you night and day, so that you may rest and seek His bounty and be grateful (Quran 28:73). Exertion and settling are named as parts of one cycle rather than as opposites.
وَمِن رَّحۡمَتِهِۦ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيۡلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ لِتَسۡكُنُواْ فِيهِ وَلِتَبۡتَغُواْ مِن فَضۡلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمۡ تَشۡكُرُونَ
In His mercy He has given you night and day, so that you may rest and seek His bounty and be grateful.’
Qur’an 28:73read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A study using both an experiment and a survey found that regular exercisers ruminated less after a laboratory stressor, and that a single bout of exercise improved recovery. That fits movement as a way through rather than a way round. A laboratory stressor is a mild stand in for a real row, and the survey half cannot tell us which way the arrow runs.
Bernstein EE, McNally RJ. (2018). Exercise as a buffer against difficulties with emotion regulation: A pathway to emotional wellbeing.. Behaviour research and therapy doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Movement spends the arousal that anger switched on, and a spent body is much easier to think inside.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Movement can settle you or wind you further up, and the difference is mostly what your mind is doing while you move.
Take slow sips of water. You have to hold your breath for a moment to swallow, so your breathing slows down without you having to manage it.
Your hand is already halfway there. From a clenched fist, keep the thumb and index finger touching and let the other three fingers open out.