Heartbreak

Do your personal relationships affect your health?

A new ongoing study shows that negative aspects of a close relationship--such as not confiding and not getting emotional support--can increase the risk of heart related events and the results are published in the October 8, 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researches believe there is more and more evidence that shows being exposed to negative relationships that increase worry, anxiety, and feelings of low self-esteem can in the long term produce emotional effects that may trigger biological changes in the body and lead to bad outcomes.

One researcher said poor marital quality has previously been reported as an important prognostic factor for MI, heart failure, and metabolic syndrome and that women seem to be more affected by the negative aspects of a close relationship than men.

The findings in this study expand and corroborate the previous research by showing that negative interactions in close relationships are contributing factors of coronary events.

This study examined 9011 British civil servants (6114 men and 2897 women) and assessed negative aspects of close relationships and other social-support measures with a questionnaire and 80% cited marriage or a partnership as their closest relationship.

The link between negative aspects of relationships and coronary events were determined during an average of 12.2 years of follow-up.

Adjustments were made for sociodemographic, biological (obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cholesterol levels), and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol intake, exercise, and fruit and vegetable consumption) and they found that people who experienced negative aspects of a close relationship had a 34% higher risk of incident coronary events.

Contrary to their prior reports, they found that although women and people in a lower employment grade were more likely to be exposed to negative aspects of a close relationship, sex and social position had no significant interaction effects.

This study shows that negative interactions in close relationships produce similar effects on heart disease regardless of sex and social position.

Researches think that emotional effects may trigger changes in the neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and immunomodulatory systems and this sounds like a whole new strategy for lawyers to find fault.

The bottom line to take away:

People just need to be nicer to each other!!