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“No relationship is better than a bad one” is a saying you often hear after someone breaks up with you. Being single isn’t so bad when you compare it to being in a bad relationship. In fact, new research shows that a bad relationship can seriously damage your health, The Guardian reports .
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Bad for the health
What is commonly referred to as an unhealthy relationship turns out to be unhealthy in reality. This is according to research from the Universities of Nevada and Michigan. The study followed 373 heterosexual couples during the first 16 years of their marriage. The researchers discovered that a relationship with a lot of conflict and disagreements has a serious negative impact on your health.
The study compared couples who had a lot of disagreements and arguments with couples who got along better. Research was conducted on several topics such as children, money, in-laws and leisure activities .
Impact greater in men than women
The study also looked at the number of marital problems and the health effects they had separately on women and men. While for women the specific number of disagreements was not related to health, the deterioration in men’s health was determined by the number of disagreements. The researchers found that the marital conflict negatively affected the health of both men and women.
However, the impact was greater among men than among women. “Conflict can be particularly damaging to health when spouses are hostile or defensive during disagreements or when they argue about the same issue over and over again without resolution,” says researcher Shrout.
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This is how health was assessed
The health ratings were calculated by asking participants questions about their health, including whether their health interfered with their work, whether they were healthy enough to do the things they wanted to do, whether they had trouble sleeping, if they experienced nervousness and anxiety, and if they had headaches. The results of the study showed that participants who had more conflict were more likely to have some kind of problem.
Conflict in a relationship can lead to damaging responses in the body, such as inflammation, changes in appetite, and increased release of stress hormones. All of these can affect many aspects of health, ranging from heart function to the immune system.
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So is marriage bad?
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that married people tend to live longer and healthier lives than those who are divorced, widowed, or never married. The results of many studies show that living in a marriage does not have to be bad. According to researcher Shrout, “People in marriage have better psychological well-being, are less likely to develop diseases, and heal faster when sick.”
“It’s not that a single fight in a relationship will irreparably damage your health, but frequent conflict over many years will take a toll – it’s important to work on communicating with each other to keep conflict to a minimum.”
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