Monetizing Your Fight Or Flight

Fear and anger keep the lights on in American politics and media. They also keep your sympathetic nervous system on a hair trigger. In short bursts, these emotions are useful—we have them for a reason. But marinating in either exacts a cost, from cardiovascular wear-and-tear to immune suppression and lousy sleep.

Below is a ground-truth tour: what fear and anger do to the body, what Americans are actually afraid and angry about, when those feelings are rational, who benefits from keeping you spun up, and what you can do about it.

---

What Fear and Anger Do to Your Body (Right Now and Over Time)

Short-term (minutes to hours). Anger and fear engage the fight-or-flight mechanism: adrenaline surges, heart rate and blood pressure spike, blood vessels constrict, and clotting ramps up. That’s adaptive if you’re facing a threat—not so much if you’re facing email. A meta-analysis of case-crossover studies found the risk of heart attack, stroke, acute coronary syndromes, and dangerous arrhythmias rises in the two hours following an outburst of anger. [1]

Newer lab work helps explain why: recalling anger-inducing events temporarily impairs the ability of blood vessels to dilate—one mechanism linking acute anger to cardiovascular events. [2]

Long-term (months to years). Live in that red-alert state and you accumulate “allostatic load”—wear on systems hammered by chronic stress hormones. Long-term stress dysregulates the HPA axis (hello, cortisol), suppresses immune function, and reshapes inflammatory signaling. [3] It also slows wound healing and increases susceptibility to infections—classic findings from controlled studies of marital conflict and experimentally induced colds. [4]

Downstream, the list is familiar and ugly: higher risks of hypertension, coronary disease, depression and anxiety, digestive problems, and cognitive decline via sleep loss. [5] Meta-analyses link anger and hostility to worse cardiovascular outcomes and mortality, even after accounting for other risks. [6]

---

The Top Five Things Americans Fear—and Get Angry About

Fear, by the numbers. The latest Chapman University Survey of American Fears (2024) asked about ~85 fears and found a familiar No. 1—for the ninth straight year: “corrupt government officials” (65.2%). Rounding out the top five: a loved one becoming seriously ill (58.4%), cyberterrorism (58.3%), a loved one dying (57.8%), and Russia using nuclear weapons (55.8%). Not having enough money for the future sits at No. 6 (55.7%). [7]

Anger/issue salience. If you track what Americans say is the country’s “most important problem,” you get a good proxy for what’s fueling anger: immigration, the economy/inflation, and poor government leadership have dominated Gallup’s monthly measures across 2024–2025. [8] The American Psychological Association’s Stress in America work shows similar heat around the nation’s political future/elections, the economy, healthcare costs, crime/violence, and global tensions. [9]

---

Is the Fear (or Anger) Rational?

Short answer: sometimes. Longer answer: emotion is a noisy risk calculator.

• Government corruption. Americans feel corruption acutely; Chapman notes it’s bipartisan and persistent, even though experts often rate the U.S. as comparatively less corrupt than many peers. The gap between perceptions of “legal corruption” and the broader, lived sense of elite influence is part of why the fear sticks. [7]
• Loved ones’ illness/death. Fear here is human and rational; sickness and mortality are certainties. The task isn’t to banish fear but to translate it into preventive action (screenings, exercise, sleep, social connection) that changes real risk. [10]
• Cyberterrorism and nuclear war. These are low-probability, high-consequence threats—prime ground for “probability neglect,” in which strong emotion leads us to overweight tiny risks. The fact that the downside is catastrophic doesn’t mean the likelihood is high. Calibrating both is the adult move. [11]
• Economy/inflation. If prices bite your paycheck, fear and anger are grounded. Polling shows the economy consistently tops voter priorities for a reason. [12]
• Immigration and crime. Salience is high; local exposure varies. The availability and affect heuristics mean vivid stories—viral clips, dramatic news—can crowd out base rates and personal risk. The antidote is boring: look at numbers where you live and temper judgment with data. [13]

---

Who Keeps You Afraid and Angry—and Why

Politicians, because it mobilizes. Decades of political psychology show anger is turnout fuel; it pushes people to donate, share, volunteer, and vote more than anxiety or enthusiasm. Experiments and election-cycle surveys confirm it. [14] Campaign pros also know “fear appeals” work when paired with a credible path to action (the Extended Parallel Process Model). Stoke threat, sell efficacy (“only we can fix it—donate now”), and you’ve got a fundraising machine. [15]

Media and platforms, because it pays. Outrage and negativity travel farther in the attention economy. Moral-emotional language and outrage are rewarded by social learning online; false or sensational news spreads faster and wider than true, mundane updates; negative words boost clicks. Algorithms tuned for engagement—your time and taps—learn to feed anger because it keeps you scrolling. [16]

---

What You Can Do That Actually Helps

1. Get control of the body, then the story.
   • Breathe like you mean it. HRV biofeedback and slow-paced breathing (about 6 breaths/min) reduce stress and anxiety; the physiology is well studied. [17]
   • Move your body. Aim for 150 minutes/week of moderate activity (or 75 vigorous) plus two days of strength work. Exercise lowers blood pressure, improves mood and sleep, and bluntly counters stress biology. [18]
   • Guard sleep like a supply line. Chronic short sleep amplifies cardiometabolic and mental-health risks. Pick a consistent window; ditch doomscrolling in bed. [19]
2. Train the mind, not just the muscles.
   Mental fitness is as critical as physical fitness when dealing with chronic fear and anger. Two evidence-based approaches stand out:
   • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Use “thought records” to write down triggering events, automatic thoughts (“I’m doomed,” “Everything is corrupt”), and then challenge them with evidence. Try the “reframe drill”: when catastrophizing (“the economy will collapse”), ask what’s the most likely outcome, not the scariest. Anger-specific CBT techniques include “time-outs” and “behavioral experiments.” [20]
   • Mindfulness, in doses. Mindfulness is about noticing fear or anger without being consumed by it. The “STOP skill” is a good start: Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed. MBSR programs teach body scans, guided breathing, and awareness practices that down-regulate the stress response. RCTs show these approaches rival medication for some anxiety disorders. [21]
3. Audit your information diet.
   Most Americans watch what they eat, at least in theory. But very few pay equal attention to their information diet—even though what you consume mentally impacts stress as much as food affects your waistline. News and social platforms aren’t in the “informing” business; they’re in the attention-harvesting business. And your anger and fear are the crops.
   • Time-box outrage. Algorithms maximize engagement, not accuracy. Click on something that makes you mad, and you train the system to feed you more of the same. [16]
   • Follow the money in media. Traditional and digital outlets chase ratings and clicks, leaning toward sensationalism. Conflict sells; calm doesn’t.
   • Diversify sources; de-weight virality. Prefer outlets that lead with data over drama. Pause and ask: “What’s the base rate here?” [13]
   • Curate, don’t gorge. Don’t let algorithms decide your intellectual menu. Choose a handful of trusted outlets.
   • Reclaim agency. Every rage-share is free marketing for the very platforms profiting from your outrage. Limiting exposure and demanding data over drama is resistance, not passivity.
4. Translate emotion into agency.
   Fear and anger are energy sources. Direct that charge into something constructive:
   • Civic participation (vote, volunteer, engage locally).
   • Skill-building (financial literacy, first aid, organizing).
   • Resilience drills (prepping rationally for low-probability, high-impact events).
   • Creative outlets (art, writing, fitness).
5. Build connection on purpose.
   Social isolation amplifies fear and anger, while social bonds buffer them. Loneliness is now a recognized public health crisis with mortality risks comparable to smoking or obesity. [10] Connection is a discipline.
   • Cultivate “weak ties” like neighbors, coworkers, gym friends.
   • Find or form tribes (clubs, sports, churches, hobbies). Avoid groups that fuel outrage.
   • Replace digital rage with real conversation.
   • Practice “other-centered” acts (volunteering, mentoring).
   • Maintain connections intentionally—call, visit, check in.

---

Bottom Line

Occasional fear and anger are part of being human. But when they become your default operating system—especially in an environment engineered to monetize outrage—the bill comes due in cardiovascular risk, immune fragility, poor sleep, and frayed judgment.

You can’t control the incentives of politicians or platforms, but you can control inputs and responses. Calm is not complacency; it’s combat power.

TLDR: Politicians and media are drastically shortening and negatively impacting your health and quality of life. Limit the amount of time you allow them into your head.

References

1. Mostofsky E., et al. “Outbursts of anger as a trigger of acute cardiovascular events: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” European Heart Journal (2014).
2. Anderer S. “New Research Could Help Explain Anger’s Link to Heart Disease.” JAMA (2024); and AHA News on anger and vascular dysfunction (2024).
3. Shchaslyvyi A., et al. “Comprehensive Review of Chronic Stress Pathways and Health.” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health (2024); Alotiby A. “Immunology of Stress: A Review” (2024).
4. Cohen S., et al. “Psychological stress and susceptibility to the common cold.” JAMA (classic series); Kiecolt-Glaser J., et al. “Hostile marital interactions and wound healing.” (2005).
5. CDC/Mayo Clinic resources on chronic stress, sleep, and health risks.
6. Chida Y. & Steptoe A. “The association of anger and hostility with future coronary heart disease: a meta-analytic review.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2009).
7. Chapman University, Survey of American Fears 2024 (Top 10 fears and methodology).
8. Gallup, multiple releases on “Most Important Problem” and 2024–2025 issue salience (immigration, economy, governance).
9. American Psychological Association, Stress in America report series.
10. CDC & NIH public health guidance on preventive health, sleep, and social connection.
11. Sunstein C. “Probability Neglect: Emotions, Worst Cases, and Law.” Yale Law Journal (2002); Slovic P. on the affect heuristic.
12. Gallup polling on economic concerns (2024–2025).
13. Crime/immigration perception vs. base-rate data (FBI UCR, Pew Research Center).
14. Valentino N., et al. “Election Night’s Alright for Fighting: The Role of Emotions in Political Participation.” Journal of Politics (2011).
15. Witte K. “Extended Parallel Process Model” (foundational fear-appeal theory).
16. Brady W., et al. on moral-emotional language and outrage diffusion; Vosoughi S. Science (2018) on false-news spread; Robertson C., et al. (2023) on negativity and clicks.
17. Lehrer P., et al. “Heart rate variability biofeedback: Mechanisms and efficacy.” Frontiers in Psychology (2020).
18. American Heart Association & CDC physical-activity guidelines (150 minutes/week).
19. National Sleep Foundation, CDC sleep-health resources.
20. Hofmann S., et al. reviews/meta-analyses on CBT efficacy (including anger); Henwood K. meta-analysis of CBT-informed anger management.
21. Khoury B.; Hoge E. (JAMA Psychiatry 2023) Mindfulness/MBSR effectiveness.

_______________________________________________

Dave Chamberlin served 38 years in the USAF and Air National Guard as an aircraft crew chief, where he retired as a CMSgt. He has held a wide variety of technical, instructor, consultant, and leadership positions in his more than 40 years of civilian and military aviation experience. Dave holds an FAA Airframe and Powerplant license from the FAA, as well as a Master’s degree in Aeronautical Science. He currently runs his own consulting and training company and has written for numerous trade publications.

His true passion is exploring and writing about issues facing the military, and in particular, aircraft maintenance personnel.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.