You might think years of being trapped in a bad marriage leads
only to a messy divorce.
But it can also quite literally break your
heart, scientists believe.
A study found that people who have
experienced decades of conflict with their spouse are more likely to
develop heart disease than those in good marriages.
The finding
was especially true for wives - possibly because women tend to
internalise negative feelings more than men.
People in bad marriages are more
likely to develop heart disease, a study found. The finding was
especially true for wives - possibly because women tend to internalise
negative feelings more than men (file pic)
It suggests
that relationship counselling should be directed at older couples as
well as those starting out on the marital journey, the U.S. researchers
said.
Sociologist Hui Lui, from Michigan State University, U.S. said:
'Marriage counselling is focused largely on younger couples. But these
results show that marital quality is just as important at older ages,
even when the couple has been married 40 or 50 years.'
The findings
back up previous research by Dr Lui, and other, which found people who
are unhappy with their spouse could be at higher risk of depression,
high blood pressure and even heart disease.
While a
happy marriage provides support and enhances physical health, experts
believe the stress of an unhappy marriage can cause depression.
Unhappy
relationships can lead people to take up unhealthy habits, such as
smoking and drinking, and can increase the body’s levels of stress
hormones.
One study found that people who had heated
arguments with their spouse and also had a history of depression were
more likely to be obese, as these two factors seemed to alter how the
body processes high-fat foods.
In today's study, Dr Lui's team analysed five
years of data from around 1,200 married men and women who were aged 57
to 85 at the start of the study.
All were participants in a major U.S.
investigation, the National Social Life Health and Aging Project which
included questions on marital quality and looked at rates of heart
attack, stroke, and high blood pressure.
The findings add to previous research
showing bad relationships lead to health problems including depression,
high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity (file pic)
The study,
published online in the Journal Of Health And Social Behavior, found
that bad marriages tainted by rows, criticism and demands were more
harmful to the heart than good supportive ones were beneficial.
It also
showed that the effect of marital quality on heart and artery disease
risk became much stronger at older ages.
Over time,
stress from a bad marriage may become more harmful because of declining
immune function and frailty, the researchers believe.
Women, but
not men, also appeared to experience a decline in marital quality as a
result of suffering heart disease.
This may
reflect the fact that wives are more likely to provide support and care
to sick husbands than the other way round, said the scientists.
'In this
way, a wife's poor health may affect how she assesses her marital
quality, but a husband's poor health doesn't hurt his view of marriage,'
said Dr Liu.
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