If you are angry, calming down works better than blowing off steam. A review of 154 studies with more than 10,000 participants found that activities that lower arousal, such as meditation, mindfulness, relaxation and yoga, reduced anger and aggression, while activities that raise arousal, such as hitting a bag or going for a run, did not help overall. Jogging actually made people angrier.
The meta-analysis was carried out by Sophie Lyngesen Kjærvik and Brad J. Bushman of the School of Communication at The Ohio State University, and grew out of Kjærvik’s doctoral dissertation. It was published online in Clinical Psychology Review on March 11, 2024.
Turning down the heat versus letting it out
Anger is a high-arousal emotion: the heart speeds up, muscles tense and the body gets ready to act. A popular idea holds that burning off that energy, by venting or exercising, will drain the anger away.
The authors pooled 184 independent samples involving 10,189 participants. They sorted the activities tested into two groups: those meant to lower physiological arousal, like deep breathing and slow yoga, and those that raise it, like kickboxing, punching a bag, breaking objects in a rage room, cycling or running.
Meditation had the biggest effect
Arousal-lowering activities reduced anger and aggression, with an effect size (Hedges’ g) of -0.63. Every type worked. Meditation had the strongest effect (g of -1.55), followed by mindfulness, relaxation and yoga.
The benefit held for men and women, across races, ages and cultures, for students and non-students, for criminal offenders and non-offenders, and for people with and without intellectual disabilities. It worked whether delivered by a therapist, a researcher or a digital platform, in groups or alone, in the lab or in the field.
One weak spot: among participants who had just been provoked, the calming effect was smaller and not statistically significant.
Jogging raised anger, ball games lowered it
Arousal-raising activities had essentially no effect overall (g of -0.02). Aggressive activities like punching did no better than non-aggressive ones, and cardio did no better than strength training.
The results varied by activity, though. Jogging significantly increased anger (g of 0.71), as did stair climbing. The authors suggest repetitive, monotonous movement can breed boredom or frustration, and that running on a treadmill may feel less in one’s control.
Ball sports such as soccer and volleyball, physical education classes and aerobic exercise all reduced anger. The authors link this to the element of play, which brings positive emotions.
They conclude that regular exercise has many health benefits, but anger management is not one of them. They caution that several possible moderators, including provocation and trait anger, could not be tested fully because too few studies reported them.
Study Details:
- Title: A meta-analytic review of anger management activities that increase or decrease arousal: What fuels or douses rage?
- Authors: Sophie Lyngesen Kjærvik, Brad J. Bushman
- Journal: Clinical Psychology Review
- Publication Date: March 11, 2024
- DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102414