6 Easy ways to not let your anger get the better of you

Although a natural emotion, anger needs to be managed at all times so that it doesn’t get out of control and cause problems in your life. Whether at home, work or in your relationships, uncontrolled anger can affect your general life quality. However, controlling your anger comes with the benefit of improving your overall health, while reducing stress levels.

Here are some of the ways that you could learn to gain control on your temper:

1. Practice deep breathing
Instead of allowing your anger to get out of control, every time you start feeling angry, get down to practicing some simple breathing techniques to calm your tense body and mind. Here’s what you should do when enraged:
- Take slow, but deep breaths to counteract the stress reaction that usually accompanies anger
- Slowly repeat a calming word or phrase, which could be “relax”, “take it easy” or “I am in control of my anger”
- Work on your muscles by tightening and then relaxing them

2. Count from 1 to 100 or 100 to 1
Counting numbers can prevent you from flying off the handle. It takes your mind away from the cause of your anger and prevents you from mulling over the situation. The act of counting also provides you with the time to delay the impulsive behaviour that often follows the emotion. You can even make this more effective by breathing in slowly and deeply whenever you start on a
new number.

3. Focus on the present
Whenever you’re angry, don’t look back at the past. By doing so, you may end up bringing past grievances into your present situation, while holding others responsible for feeling how and what you feel. Instead focus your attention on what you can do in the present to work out the issue.

4. Relax tight muscles
Another tip that can help you to cool down fast is a gentle massage of the areas of tension, which are usually the shoulders, neck and scalp. For the shoulders, simply rotate them to relax tight muscles. To release the tension that gets built up in your neck and head region, perform a simple scalp massage to improve blood circulation and consequently, relax your mind.

5. Listen to music
Listening to music can soothe frayed nerves and calm you down. It works by helping you to sieve through the feelings of anger and disappointment in a constructive manner.

6. Change of situation
Taking yourself away from the source of anger, whether it’s the place or the person concerned, is an anger management skill that you can use to calm yourself. To do this, you can either close your eyes and transport yourself to a quiet and peaceful place or simply walk away to let your anger fizzle out.

Anger is an emotion that is difficult to react to, understand and most importantly bring under control. And yet, it's one of the most relatable human emotions. It's seldom easy to understand or break down the root cause of anger when it's coming from someone else, let alone control it or tame it when it's stemming from inside you. We often become pretty illogical when we're angry, and end up saying and doing things, which we ordinarily wouldn't.

This often leads to embarrassment and/or acts of passion which lead to frayed relationships. Psychology has a number of behavioural and medical therapies that are administered to people prone to frequent angry and emotional outbursts and hostile behaviours. But no branch of study or science has understood the body and the mind as thoroughly as the ancient Indian practice of Ayurveda. There are hardly any physical or psychological problems that Ayurveda doesn't have answers to.

Ayurveda has suggested practices to calm anger as well and it involves a couple of simple exercises with readily available foods and drinks.According to the book, The Complete Book Of Ayurvedic Home Remedies by Dr. Vasant Lad, anger is caused when the Pitta dosha or the fire energy of the body is aggravated.

He writes, "Pitta is necessary for right understanding and judgement, but when it gets disturbed or out of balance, it creates misunderstanding and wrong judgement, leading to anger and hostility." Dr. Lad has suggested some home remedies to calm the fire energy and bring temper under control.

Here Is An Ayurvedic Diet To Control Anger

Dr. Lad has dedicated an entire chapter in his book to map a 'pitta-pacifying diet', which involves avoiding foods that generate heat in the body, including hot, spicy and fermented foods. He has also suggested avoiding citrus and sour fruits until the pitta has calmed down. He has also advised to consume simple, bland and cooling foods when you're angry and one must also keep away from alcohol and caffeinated foods and drinks during that time. More specifically, he has recommended two drinks for those looking to pacify their pitta.

Herbal Tea: Chamomile Tulsi Rose Tea

To prepare this tea, take one part chamomile, one part tulsi or holy basil and one part rose powder. Steep half a teaspoon of this mixture in a cup of hot water and keep it for some time, until the water cools down. Drinking this tea three times a day can soothe the aggravated pitta.

Pitta Pacifying Drink: Grape Juice Potion With Cumin, Fennel Seeds And Sandalwood

To make this potion, take one cup of grape juice and add half a teaspoon each of cumin or jeera, fennel or saunfand sandalwood powder or chandan to it. This drink, when consumed, might settle angry feelings in the body and also heal any burning sensations in the stomach.

Other than the diet, Dr. Lad also recommends breathing exercises and meditation, as ways of calming the aggravating pitta. These remedies makes sense as the ingredients involved in the food have a cooling effect on the body. So in conclusion, every time you feel angry or upset and want to snap at someone, take a few deep breaths and go make yourself a calming tea!

लहान मुलांचा राग आणि चिडचिडपणा याकडे पालक अनेकदा दुर्लक्ष करतात. अनेकदा पालकांना वाटतं की, ही त्यांची सवय असू शकते. जर तुम्हीही असाच विचार करत असाल तर हे पुढे गंभीर ठरू शकतं. कारण नुकत्याच करण्यात आलेल्या एका रिसर्चनुसार, लहान मुलांमध्ये चिडचिडपणा आणि राग व्हिटॅमिन डी च्या कमतरतेमुळे येतो. इतकेच नाही तर या रिसर्चनुसार, व्हिटॅमिन डी च्या कमतरतेमुळे लहान मुलांमध्ये आक्रामकताही बघायला मिळाली.

Journal of Nutrition मध्ये प्रकाशित या रिसर्चनुसार, ही समस्या ५ वर्षांपेक्षा मोठ्या लहान मुलांमध्ये बघायला मिळते. अभ्यासकांचं असं मत आहे की, व्हिटॅमिन डी च्या कमतरतेमुळे, पोषक तत्वांच्या कमतरतेमुळे लहान मुलांच्या मानसिक आरोग्यावरही प्रभाव पडतो.

लहान मुलांवर रिसर्च

लहान मुलांवर करण्यात आलेल्या या रिसर्चमध्ये प्रायमरी शाळेत शिकणाऱ्या ५ ते १२ वयाच्या ३२०२ मुला-मुलींचा समावेश करण्यात आला होता. या रिसर्चमध्ये मुलांच्या सवयी, त्यांचा अभ्यासाचा, खेळण्याचा आणि आरोग्याचा डेटा एकत्र करण्यात आला होता. यात ब्लड टेस्टच्या माध्यमातून व्हिटॅमिन आणि पोषक तत्वांची कमतरता बघायला मिळाली. रिसर्चच्या परिणामांमध्ये असं आढळलं की, पोषक तत्वांची आणि व्हिटॅमिन डी ची कमतरता असल्याने लहान मुलांच्या व्यवहारात बदल येतो.

लहान मुलांमध्ये व्हिटॅमिन डी च्या कमतरतेचे कारण

अलिकडच्या काळात व्हिटॅमिन डी च्या कमतरतेचे अनेकजण शिकार होत आहेत. यात लहान मुलंही शिकार होत आहेत. याचं मुख्य कारण सूर्यकिरणांपासून दूर राहणे. व्हिटॅमिन डी ची कमतरता शहरी भागातील मुलांमध्ये अधिक बघायला मिळते. कारण त्यांना पुरेसा सूर्यप्रकाश मिळू शकत नाही.

लहान मुलांमध्ये व्हिटॅमिन डी च्या कमतरतेची इतरही काही कारणे आहेत. जीवनशैलीमध्ये बराच बदल झाला आहे. तसेच अलिकडे लहान मुले जंक फूडचं अधिक सेवन करतात. आणि लहान मुलं पोषक तत्व कमी असलेल्या पदार्थांचं सेवनही कमी करतात.

हेल्दी फूड जे व्हिटॅमिन डी चे स्त्रोत आहेत

- सूर्यकिरणासोबत काही खाद्य पदार्थांमध्येही व्हिटॅमिन डी आढळतं. त्यासाठी मुलांच्या आहारात या पदार्थांचा समावेश करावा.

- सर्वात चांगला आणि फायदेशीर व्हिटॅमिन डी चा स्त्रोत म्हणजे दूध हे आहे. लहान मुलांच्या डाएटमध्ये रोज दुधाचा समावेश करावा.

- व्हिटॅमिन डी चा स्त्रोत म्हणून मशरूमही खाऊ शकता. कारण यात भरपूर प्रमाणात व्हिटॅमिन डी असतात.

- काही फळांच्या ज्यूसमध्येही व्हिटॅमिन डी भरपूर प्रमाणात असतं. संत्र्याचा ज्यूस हे व्हिटॅमिन डी चा चांगला स्त्रोत आहे.