Is Your Marriage Killing You?
If you’re a woman in a strained marriage, it just might be.
Here’s why…
According to a University of Utah study, women in stressful marriages suffer more often from “metabolic syndrome” than women in happy marriages.
Metabolic syndrome is a group of 5 risk factors for diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. These risk factors include high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood glucose levels.
With the increased hostility, conflict and disagreement in their strained marriages, these women are also more apt to be depressed.
Some scientists believe it’s this depression that links bad marriages to metabolic syndrome.
The study included 276 couples from ages 40 to 70 who had been married about 20 years.
The couples filled out a number of questionnaires to rate both the positive and negative aspects of their marriages and to evaluate their symptoms of depression, if any.
Then the couples were given medical tests to gauge their levels of metabolic syndrome and existing heart disease.
But here’s a really interesting side note…
As compared to men in happy marriages, men in strained marriages also reported more depression. BUT it didn’t cause an increase in metabolic syndrome for them.
The researchers believe this happened because women are more sensitive to relationship problems than men and therefore, have a more severe physical response.
So if you’re a woman concerned about your heart health, this study suggests that you should be interested not only in risk factors such as cholesterol and high blood pressure, but also in the satisfaction and happiness of your family life.
Technorati Tags: abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, bad marriage, heart disease