Article: When your body goes into stress mode, you will likely start to experience certain physical signs. These might include:  Your jaws are clenched and your muscles tense. Your head or stomach hurts. Your heart starts racing. You sweat (even the palms of your hands are sweaty). Your face flushes. Your body or your hands shake. You get dizzy. Anger is often accompanied by a flood of other emotions. After all, the amygdala, the center for emotions, is pumping out signals with all its might to meet a threat and ensure your survival. It isn't surprising that you can get a flood of other related emotions. These emotions are capable of sounding the alarms for the fight and flight response. In addition to anger, some emotions you might feel include:  Irritation Sadness Depression Guilt Resentment Anxiousness Defensiveness If you feel yourself getting angry and are experiencing the symptoms of anger listed above, you can tell yourself that you don't have to react right away. Counting can help you put off your feelings for the moment. It might feel a bit silly at first, but counting really can distract your long enough to calm down. Hold off on reacting and give yourself time to sort out your feelings. Try to get some space to yourself for a bit. If you can, excuse yourself and go to the bathroom, a stairwell, or outside while you do this, and this will help you feel comfortable deep breathing to calm down.  Breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, and exhale for a count of four. Make sure you are breathing with your diaphragm rather than with your chest. When you breathe with your diaphragm, your belly extends out (you can feel it with your hand). Do this as many times as necessary until you start feeling calmer. Try saying something calming to yourself, such as, “Calm down,” or “Relax,” or “Take it easy.” Repeat this phrase over and over until you feel your anger start to dissipate. If you feel your blood boil, get out. Take a walk. Breathe deeply. If you are able to remove yourself from the situation, do it. By not having the thing or person that makes you mad in front of you, you can more easily calm down. Progressive muscle relaxation is the process of tensing and relaxing your entire body in progressive stages. It is thought that by tensing your muscles yourself, you can release pent-up tension in your body. Here is an overview of this method:  Breathe in for a count of four, hold for four, exhale for four. Keep breathing deeply. Start with the muscles in your head and face. Tighten as many muscles as you can in your face, head, mouth, and neck, and hold for twenty seconds, then release. Then work your way down the body, tensing and releasing your shoulders, arms, back (only if you don't have back problems), hands, stomach, legs, feet, and toes. Now wiggle your toes around, feeling the relaxation from your toes to your head. Take a few more deep breaths, and enjoy the feeling of relaxation. If you can get yourself laughing, you can change the chemical reaction in your body. You can use your brain and imagination to create all sorts of ridiculous situations that can get you laughing, especially if it isn't mean-spirited or sarcastic humor.  For instance, say you're in a situation where your boss got mad at you about something. Instead of fuming about it at your desk, you can dissipate your own anger by imagining he has a fish head and he was yelling through his fish mouth. It is important, however, not to laugh or smirk if you're still in a conversation with your boss. This could make things worse. You can even use this method if you lose your temper a lot. Using something to make you laugh will help you calm down for this moment. Then you can more effectively employ other methods, such as problem solving, to come up with a solution to the situation you're facing.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Take notice of physical signs. Take notice of emotional signs. Count to ten. Try deep breathing. Repeat a calming word or phrase. Get a change of scenery. Try progressive muscle relaxation. Find something humorous to enjoy.