Sparring with your better half might harden heart arteries

Sparring with your better half might harden heart arteries

There's a better reason now to avoid fighting with your better half. For new research conducted by University of Utah scientists has found that sparring with your spouse could accelerate the development of coronary atherosclerosis, or hardening of the blood vessels that supply the heart.

It was found that the hardening of the arteries was more common in wives if their husband was hostile and more common in husbands if he or his wife acted in a controlled manner during the spat. "Women pay more attention to that friendliness vs. hostility quality, and are more concerned when it's out of line than are men. Men are more interested in issues of control in their lives," said Dr Tim Smith, a psychology professor at University of Utah. Smith will be presenting the findings of the study at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Denver. The current study recruited 150 healthy couples by paying them $150 to participate in the study.

Initially the couples were examined via a CT scan to detect the calcification of the arteries or blood vessels that supply the heart. Some conversations between the couples were taped by graduate students and rated as either friendly or hostile and submissive or dominant. Even though the couples were aware of being taped, there were still some needling statements. "Behaving in this way in this six-minute sample is also associated with couples telling us that this happens a lot for them," Smith observed.

Two days after these conversations, the couples were again subjected to a CT scan of the heart, "We went looking for the fact that different aspects of the marriage might be important to men's and women's heart health, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was so clear," Smith said. It was found that hostile wives and dominant husbands had a significant degree of calcification. Some couples who were extremely hostile were referred to marriage counselors.

"If someone said, 'what's the most important thing I can do to protect my heart health?' my first answers would be 'don't smoke', 'get exercise' and 'eat a sensible diet'," Smith said. "But somewhere on the list would be 'pay attention to your relationships'."