What A Stressful Marriage Does To Your Health

Heated arguments with anyone is enough to make your blood boil. But heated arguments with the one who knows you so well, the one you love, cherish, and honor you until death do you part, is the absolute worst. Now, new research suggests that all those nasty little fights and arguments with your partner may actually negatively impact your overall individual health. In a study published by The Journals of Gerontology, Series B®: Psychological Sciences, it was found that stress and relationship quality have both direct and moderating effects on the cardiovascular system. The stress of a bad marriage can lead to high blood pressure. Looking at the couple as a whole, researchers found that when a wife is stressed, her husband’s blood pressure will go up.

Lead author, Kira S. Burdit, PhD, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan said, “We were particularly excited about these findings because they show that the effects of stress and negative relationship are truly dyadic in nature…We were particularly fascinated that husbands were more sensitive to wives’ stress than the reverse given all of the work indicating that wives are more affected by the marital tie.”

The findings led researchers to believe that husbands have greater reliance on their wives for support. When their wives are stressed, husbands may not get the support they need. In turn, a spike in their BPs.

So, what was that old saying again? Happy wife, happy life? More like, happy wife, longer life.

Image: Tumblr