My 8th grade health teacher was teaching us about anger management techniques, and he suggested one that I found particularly interesting. Does punching a pillow or a punching bag or something similar really serve to calm us down and make us feel better? If anything, I would think that it would make us angrier. At least, that’s how it has been in my experience. Listening to music or taking a nap works much better, in my anecdotal experiences.
Scientists have found that swinging at a punching bag can actuallyincrease anger and aggression levels. It does nothing to calm you down, and is no help in relieving one’s anger. This works in the same way that swearing at someone who you are angry at will only serve to make you angrier. Empathy is key when trying to reduce anger levels, not retaliation. There is no such thing as “blowing off steam.”
In 1999, a laboratory experiment was run in order to test the hypothesis that punching bags relieved stress. A group of people was intentionally made upset, and then were split into two groups. One group was then told to punch a punching bag for two minutes, while the other group did not. The group that had punched the bag was notably more angry after the two minute period than the group that had not. The subjectslinked the anger they had with the aggression of punching the bag, and were unable to calm themselves.
Why is punching something still being commonly recommended as an anger-management technique? It is clearly a poor method for reducing in stress, as it does the exact opposite. Hopefully, health teachers will be educated on this and punching a bag will cease to be recommended to kids. Anger management is not something to be taken lightly, and utilizing science to recognize the best management techniques is imperative.
