Marital stress raises health risks for women, but nor for men, according to a new study presented Thursday to the American Psychosomatic Society's annual meeting.

 

To be more specific, being in a strained relationship not only caused depression in women, but also increased levels of high blood pressure, obesity and cholesterol – all symptoms that add up to metabolic syndrome that can lead to heart disease.

 

On contrary, although men were exposed to the same amount of stress, their heart disease risk wasn’t as elevated as in women’s case.

 

The study, conducted by Nancy Henry of the University of Utah, involved 276 couples married an average of two decades, in which men and women were between 40 and 70 years old.

 

The participants filled out questionnaires designed to assess the good and bad aspects of married life. Also, based on their self-reported symptoms, they were rated for how depressed they appeared to be.

 

Then they were tested to see whether they were showing signs of metabolic syndrome which includes excessive belly fat, elevated blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar and low levels of HDL “good” cholesterol.

 

The researchers found that women reporting more marital strain were more likely to report depressive symptoms, had more metabolic syndrome symptoms. On the other hand, men in bad marriages reported depressive symptoms unrelated to any signs of metabolic syndrome.

 

“Women seem to be more relationship oriented. We know by research that women tend to base their self-concept on relationships, how they are doing, how things are going for them. And we think that’s the reason we’ve shown that negative relationship issues seem to take a greater toll on women emotionally and physically,” said Henry, a doctoral student at the University of Utah who also works at the Veteran Affairs Salt Lake City Medical Center.

 

Tim Smith, PhD, a professor of psychology at the same university said although bad marriages ca n contribute to depression in men, only women seem to show physiological problems.

 

“It’s not like men were not troubled in our study. But the results were clear that women in this situation were more likely to gain weight. Stress hormones facilitate depositing of intra-abdominal fat, so the stress might make them heavier, and also raise cholesterol,” Smith said.

 

However, the research doesn’t show whether women would lower their risk of heart disease if their marriages worked better or if they dumped their husbands.

 

But the study clearly shows that understand the emotional and relationship health of couples can be an important overall factor in understanding physical health. “Improving aspects of intimate relationships might help your emotional and physical wellbeing,” Henry said.