Happy relationships 'help the heart'
People in supportive relationships could have healthier hearts
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Tuesday, 09, Oct 2007 10:50
People in happy relationships have a smaller risk of developing heart disease, a study has revealed.
Those in more stressful relationships where conflicts and rows are common were found to not only suffer from heart ache but also an increased risk of heart disease.
Researchers from University College London surveyed over 9,000 British civil servants on the negative aspects of their close relationships between 1989 and 1990 or between 1985 and 1988.
Participants commented on how much emotional and practical support they received on a regular basis from the person they were closest to.
They were then followed-up after 12 years to see who had developed fatal or non-fatal coronary events, including heart attacks.
Out of the 8,499 people who did not have coronary heart disease at the beginning of the study and who provided sufficient information for the analysis, 589 reported a coronary heart disease event.
Writing in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal, the researchers claim that after adjusting for other factors that influence heart disease risk, people in relationships with high negativity were 1.34 times more likely to suffer from an event associated with heart disease than those in happier relationships.
"When one considers emotional factors and their biological translation into the body, research shows that negative marital interactions are associated with depression, often in combination with reduced self-esteem and/or higher levels of anger," the researchers write.
"These emotional reactions have been found to influence coronary heart disease through the cumulative 'wear and tear' on organs and tissues caused by the alterations of autonomic [involuntary] functions, neuroendocrine [nerve cell] changes, disturbances in coagulation [blood clotting] and inflammatory and immune responses."