Mediterranean Diet: Arguing With Your Spouse Prolongs Your Life

According to a study conducted by the Department of Psychology of the University of Michigan, arguing with your spouse prolongs your life. The researchers looked at 192 couples over 17 years. The results showed that those couples who suppress their anger when one of them attacks the other die earlier than those couples who express their anger and resolved their conflicts.

Here is the article as published by the University of Michigan, School of Health

How Arguing is Good for You
A good fight with your spouse may be good for your marriage—and may improve your odds for a long life. Preliminary results of a University of Michigan study suggest that couples where both the husband and wife suppress their anger when one attacks the other die earlier than members of couples where one or both partners express their anger and resolve the conflict.

Researchers looked at 192 couples over 17 years and placed the couples into one of four categories: in the first, both partners communicate their anger; in the second and third categories, one spouse expresses while the other suppresses; and in the fourth, both husband and wife suppress their anger and brood, says lead author Ernest Harburg, a professor emeritus with SPH and the psychology department.

“Comparisons between couples in which both people suppress their anger, and the three other types of couples, are very intriguing,” he says. The study, a longitudinal analysis of couples in Tecumseh, Michigan, showed that in the cases where both spouses suppressed their anger at the other when unfairly attacked, earlier death was twice as likely than in all other cases.

“When couples get together, one of their main jobs is reconciliation about conflict,” says Harburg. “Usually nobody is trained to do this. If they have good parents they can imitate, that’s fine, but usually the couple is ignorant about the process of resolving conflict. The key matter is, when the conflict happens, how do you resolve it? If you bury your anger, and you brood on it and you resent the other person or the attacker, and you don’t try to resolve the problem, then you’re in trouble.”

The study, which appeared in January in the Journal of Family Communication, adjusted for age, smoking, weight, blood pressure, bronchial problems, breathing, and cardiovascular risk. Although the preliminary numbers are small, Harburg says his research team is now collecting 30-year follow-up data, which will have almost double the death rate. Co-authors of the study include SPH emeritus faculty M. Anthony Schork and Mara Julius.

 

Emilia Klapp has a degree in Nutrition Science and is certified by the American Dietetic Association as a Registered Dietitian. With her new book, “Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet”, she has helped thousands of people just like you reduce the risk of heart disease, lose weight and enjoy a more abundant life at the same time. For more information on the book and to receive a free especial report on the “Top 10 Mediterranean Curative Ingredients” go to: http://mediterraneanheart.com