You fight, you raise your voice, you get offended, and you don't speak for days or months. In many years of marriage, it may happen that you have constant clashes with your partner. But what effect do they have on our health, especially if they last for a long time?
A study, published in the journal "Emotion", tried to find out.
The couples who participated were observed for 20 years: the most active during fights reported problems with the heart and tension, while those who hid their feelings, showed problems with muscles and bones, back pain and headaches.
Northwestern University scientists followed 156 couples from the same San Francisco area for 20 years, starting in 1989.
Four times, during the observation, they were tested in the laboratory by the researchers and they answered some questions about the progress of their relationship.
During the discussions, a camera filmed them, to record emotions such as anger, worry, anxiety.
After collecting data on health status as well, the researchers concluded that if men got angry often, 80 percent had cardiovascular problems, and if they kept all their anger inside, 40 percent reported bone problems. While for women, the same relationship between emotions and symptoms was not observed.
Although the study has been done for a long time, there is no sure evidence that proves that those diseases necessarily developed from conflicts with the partner: this is a hypothesis, but it is not the only one.
It can also be interpreted in the opposite way: those who have these health problems may be more prone to irritability.
However, research shows that the relationship with the person we choose to share our lives with has a strong impact on our health. /Telegraph/
