Venting won't help, new study shows—this is the No. 1 way to manage your anger

After a frustrating day at work or fight with your significant other, calling a friend to complain might seem like a good idea. 

Venting won't help you manage your anger, though, according to a recent paper published in Clinical Psychology Review. 

Researchers studied how effective arousal-increasing activities, like venting or running, and arousal-decreasing activities, like meditation or yoga, are at calming a person down. 

They analyzed 154 studies involving more than 10,000 participants and found that arousal-decreasing activities were better at helping a person manage their anger. 

Next time you want to unload your problems on a friend, take a beat and consider meditating instead. 

If you've never meditated before, it can be hard to know if you're practicing in a way that will prove beneficial.

Jade Weston, a senior meditation producer at Ten Percent Happier who has been meditating for 15 years, offered CNBC Make It three guiding questions you can ask yourself while practicing:

Answering these questions can help you feel more present in the moment. 

You don't have to meditate for a long time in order to see positive results, Vishen Lakhiani, a meditation expert and CEO of Mindvalley told CNBC Make It. 

Lakhiani recommends meditating for no more than 20 minutes a day. But, sometimes, you only need one minute to reset. 

"For most people, 15 to 20 minutes will give you just the changes that you need," he said. "You can take a one- to three-minute dip into peacefulness, and you can see remarkable results."

A few minutes of silence could help lower your frustration levels, more so than ranting to a relative.

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