The Blade of Emotions: The Impact of Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Happiness on Blood Pressure and the Tragic Warning of Life

Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness affect blood pressure. The transition from youth to middle age, and then from middle age to old age, takes several decades. Throughout this long period, blood pressure constantly reflects changes in bodily functions. Ancient Chinese philosophers believed that nature endowed humans with a normal lifespan of 110-120 years, much longer than the current actual lifespan. The speed and timing of aging are related to heredity, living environment, nutrition, and exercise, but even more so to personality. In daily life, we see some people in their forties with graying temples, declining memory, and fluctuating blood pressure, while others in their seventies and eighties remain energetic, sharp-witted, and have stable blood pressure. This shows that while blood pressure is not entirely within one's control, paying attention to factors affecting blood pressure can help stabilize it and promote health.

Entering the 21st century, people generally feel that the wheels of history have brought us to an era of faster pace of life and greater work pressure. In this period of transformation, people's social interactions have increased accordingly. With this increased interaction comes a greater number of life events. These events bring not only specific events but also a range of emotions, among which joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are the most common. Medical and psychological research has found that emotions affect blood pressure. Since social interaction can influence emotions, and emotions in turn affect blood pressure, why do people engage in social interaction? Social psychology argues that social interaction is a fundamental condition for human society and individual survival. Simply put, everyone needs to engage in social interaction for survival, learning, work, dating, marriage, and so on. Social psychology defines social interaction as the various forms of interaction between individuals, between individuals and groups, and between groups. Through social interaction, individuals receive social influence, acquire social norms, learn social skills, and adopt social behaviors. Every person living in reality needs social interaction. If eating and drinking are physiological needs, then social interaction is a psychological and survival need. Social interaction has a dual function: a positive aspect (friendly interaction) and a negative aspect (hostile interaction). It is this dual effect that causes us to experience positive emotions—joy and happiness—and negative emotions—anger and sorrow—in social interactions.

Social psychology research has found that positive social interactions contribute to the formation of an individual's personality, better adaptation to society, and maintenance of mental health. Negative social interactions, on the other hand, disrupt a person's psychological balance, causing psychological conflict and even leading to depersonalization and deviant behavior. Therefore, every individual, every family, and every group should engage in positive social interactions and avoid negative ones. This helps prevent the generation of negative emotions, prevents abnormal increases in blood pressure, and maintains mental and physical health. In social interactions, people experience certain emotional responses to changes in their surrounding environment, which influence their behavior. For example, if environmental changes align with a person's subjective desires and satisfy their needs, they will experience pleasant emotions. Imagine someone aspiring to be promoted from a clerk to assistant general manager. Through their own efforts and the approval of leadership, they achieve this position. At this point, their work efficiency is high, and their mood is exceptionally good—truly, "a happy event makes one's spirits soar." Conversely, if they strive repeatedly but fail to achieve promotion, while those less capable than them are promoted, this person's emotions, influenced by the environment, will manifest as anger and sadness, leading to decreased work efficiency. Therefore, emotions are a key component affecting a person's quality of life. Medical and psychological research has found a close relationship between emotions and the occurrence and development of certain mental disorders and psychosomatic illnesses. Excessive joy, excessive tension, excessive fear, and depression can all affect blood pressure. Reasons why emotions affect blood pressure:

1. Relatively heightened sympathetic nervous system activity, such as increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure during excitement or tension;

2. Increased adrenaline secretion during tension, anger, and fear. Adrenaline causes vasoconstriction, raising blood pressure;

3. Individuals with a genetic predisposition to hypertension may develop hypertension under external stimuli. Knowing how emotions affect blood pressure, we must learn to manage our emotions. Whether experiencing joy, sadness, anger, or happiness, remember to "maintain moderation in everything." Moderation will stabilize blood pressure. Traditional Chinese medicine summarizes mental stimuli into seven emotions: joy, anger, worry, thought, grief, fear, and fright. TCM believes these seven emotions are the cause of internal injuries and diseases, and that each emotion affects the function of a specific organ. For example, "excessive anger injures the liver, excessive joy injures the heart, fright injures the kidneys, and worry and thought injure the spleen." In medical practice, TCM also recognizes that the human body is a complete organism, and each organ is part of the body. Under physiological conditions, they are interdependent and mutually restrictive; under pathological conditions, they influence each other, leading to disease and even death. The classic Chinese novel *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* describes the story of Zhuge Liang "three times angering" Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu, narrow-minded and petty, did not die on the battlefield, but from emotional stimulation. This is a lesson that has been learned by generations. Let me share a few more stories with you.

Story 1: A Crooked Mouth on Her 50th Birthday July 16, 1989, was Grandma Guo's birthday. This birthday was no ordinary one; it was not only Grandma Guo's 50th birthday, but also the day she, who had worked hard for most of her life, remarried. To entertain relatives and friends, and to let her new husband see her culinary skills, Grandma Guo started preparing a week in advance. Every day, she got up early to go to the market to buy chicken, fish, and vegetables. Back home, she would slaughter chickens and prepare pickled vegetables, working tirelessly until her back and legs ached. Her family advised her, "You've sung opera your whole life; your body has suffered injuries. Let us all do these chores." Grandma Guo, feeling sorry for her children, insisted on doing it herself. Besides shopping, she also cleaned the house, busy inside and out until the big day. When her remarried husband arrived at Grandma Guo's home, her face beamed with joy. She took out the new clothes she had bought for her husband and said shyly, "This is a wedding gift for you." Her husband then took out a crystal bracelet and placed it on Guo's wrist. He whispered in her ear, "This is an heirloom bracelet. It's not very valuable, but I hope you like it." Seeing their parents' affectionate gesture, the children couldn't help but applaud. For a moment, the courtyard was filled with laughter and joy. Amidst the happiness, no one could have imagined that disaster was about to befall them. After the family was seated, Guo raised her glass high and said, "Today is my fiftieth birthday, and also the day I start my life anew. I am very grateful for my children's understanding and support. Cheers!" After speaking, Guo finished her drink and sat down with tears in her eyes. The children took turns toasting their parents, wishing them a happy old age. When Guo's husband raised his glass to her, intending to drink a toast together, a sudden headache and dizziness caused her to instinctively reach for the table. The glass clattered to the floor, and with the sound of shattering glass, Guo collapsed into her husband's arms. An ambulance rushed to Guo's home and took the unconscious woman to a large hospital not far away. Doctors diagnosed her with a brain hemorrhage. Her blood pressure upon admission was a staggering 200/130 mmHg. After seven days and seven nights of intensive care, Guo finally opened her eyes. The doctors explained that Guo's blood pressure had likely been abnormal for some time, but it hadn't been detected. The fatigue and lack of sleep over the past few days had caused the fluctuations in her blood pressure. At the banquet, Ms. Guo was overcome with emotion, reminiscing about her ex-husband and lamenting the hardships of raising her children alone after his death. Now, with her children being filial and her new husband considerate, she was overwhelmed with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow. This emotional outburst caused her blood pressure to spike. At fifty years old, her blood vessels already showed signs of arteriosclerosis, and the high pressure caused a sudden rupture, resulting in a brain hemorrhage.

Now, under the guidance of doctors, Ms. Guo's blood pressure has remained within the normal range, and she has lived happily for over a decade. The only remaining symptom is a crooked mouth, which still appears when she speaks and laughs. Whenever people mention her crooked mouth, Ms. Guo humorously says, "My crooked mouth saved my life." Story Two: A Careless Researcher Loses His Life Instantly. A few years ago, a heartbreaking incident occurred in a large science and technology industrial park in Northeast China. A 41-year-old researcher unexpectedly died in his laboratory. His superiors and colleagues mourned his passing, and his wife and children were devastated. While sorting through his belongings, people found his medical records. The medical record stated: "Occasional headaches, recently worsened, with pain lasting longer and occurring more frequently than before." Physical examination: Blood pressure 140/90 mmHg, total cholesterol 6.23 mmol/L, triglycerides 1.96 mmol/L. Treatment recommendations: Blood pressure and lipids should be rechecked in 2-3 weeks. An ophthalmological examination of the fundus is recommended (the fundus is the only part of the eye where microvessels can be directly observed, which can diagnose arteriosclerosis). Seven days of rest is recommended. Outpatient treatment: If symptoms worsen, seek medical attention or hospitalization immediately. Upon reading this, someone recalled that his recent physical strength seemed to have declined. His wife said he had a headache and felt unwell last night, taking painkillers. A colleague said he hadn't eaten lunch and experienced intermittent blackouts. He said he would go to the hospital for a follow-up examination after completing this experiment. Then, the continuous positive results from the experiment made him very happy, and he worked even harder. Finally, tragedy struck—he collapsed on the laboratory floor and never woke up again.