19 June 2001: Aggressive driving is bad for your health, a new study suggests. Drivers who consider themselves aggressive on the road are far more likely to have higher blood pressure than their calmer fellow road users.

The study is the first to measure physical changes shown by self-identified aggressive drivers in stressful conditions.

Experts believe it is an important contribution to better understanding the physical and psychological triggers that unleash full-blown road rage.

The study looked at 28 drivers, half of whom described themselves as aggressive. The other 14 said they would describe themselves as calm.

They were aged between 19 and 55. In her study researcher Loretta Malta, a doctoral student at the State University of New York at Albany's Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders, detected significant changes in facial muscle tension and blood pressure in the aggressive group.

The physiological tests were conducted individually in a laboratory through exercises such as mental arithmetic, and by listening to personalised driving narratives and fear-inducing scenarios meant to heighten stress levels.

The study appears in the journal Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

"The combined increases in muscle tension and blood pressure observed during all four stressors suggest that the aggressive drivers may have a tendency to respond to emotionally evocative or challenging situations with hostile and/or defensive behaviors," Malta said.

She said angry drivers could benefit from relaxation exercises such as deep and controlled breathing.

"A lot of people maybe engage in these aggressive driving behaviors and I don't think they realise the stress that they're kind of putting on their cardiovascular system."

Aggressive driving, which often leads to car accidents, could encompass excessive speeding, extreme impatience toward traffic lights or slower drivers, or antagonistic behavior towards another driver such as tailgating.

In contrast, non-aggressive drivers occasionally may drive 5 to 10 mph above the legal limit or make inaudible derogatory comments to other drivers but they don't lose the 'run' of themselves.
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