I’m sure you’ve all heard the statistics correlating marriage with heart health. Well, as it turns out, the “marriage effect” is more complicated than first thought. (Much like everything else about marriage!)
A recent study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that a troubled relationship is worse for you than remaining single. Spouses who reported a lot of negative encounters with their partners had blood pressure that was on average 5 points higher than that of single people.
The emotional stress of a difficult marriage typically causes adrenaline levels in the blood to spike, raising blood pressure. Worse, spouses who keep their feelings to themselves during arguments with their partners have a four times greater risk of dying early than those who do not, according to findings reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
So, what to do if your marriage is perhaps not exactly benefiting your health at present? Only you can decide how beneficial or detrimental your marriage is to your physical, mental and spiritual health. The first thing to do is be completely honest with yourself. Don’t lie. This is possibly something you’ve been doing for years.
Does the idea of living alone with no one else to tell you what to do or how to do it, feel liberating or scary? Can you see yourself married to this person forever? How does that feel inside?
If you feel pretty good about your marriage, or just mildly tired of certain aspects, try to diversify your life a bit. Perhaps try to add more exercise to your routine. Exercise is a wonderful stress reducer. Try taking full responsibility for reducing your own anxiety level instead of blaming others in your life. This can be a self-empowering experience!
Another solution to consider is to diversify your social support system. Concentrate on seeing friends outside of your family, or making new friends through pursuing new activities. Try to acquire the heart-protective benefits of good relationships outside of your marriage.
You are very lucky if your marriage builds up your self-esteem on a regular basis, and helps you love yourself even more. If not, consider ways that you can do this for yourself. Life is a do it yourself job!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great points. I have both experiences. My first marriage was so stressful my blood pressure was sky high. My second marriage is stress lowering and my blood pressure is normal (no prescriptions). If you find yourself in the stressful marriage and you can’t seem to remedy the stress, get out, you’re killing yourself.