Scientists explain how a failed marriage ends up influencing health

Frequent quarrels not only hurt spouses emotionally, but also damage their health. The prolonged stress felt by couples living in an unhappy marriage even negatively affects weight, as people end up putting on weight. But for men it is even worse: the negative consequences of an unhappy marriage are felt more by men than by them.

O awesome.club will tell you how unhappy relationships influence health. And all so that you can get help in time and keep your family together and happy.

The conviction that marriage strengthens health has very deep roots. The first assumptions about its benefit were made in the 19th century. However, scientists think differently. In a survey conducted in 2017, they concluded that a happy marriage benefits couples who have lived together for more than 10 years compared to single people of the same age.

But in newly married couples, the positive effects of living together don’t apply much in general. So the health benefit should not be a reason to get married. Sometimes loneliness turns out to be a better choice than a loveless marriage.

Prolonged stress weakens immunity and constant fights in the family are among the factors that cause a reduction in the body’s protective capabilities. In people who live in strained relationships, the risk of getting sick increases and this directly depends on the psychological environment at home.

Chronic stress blocks T-cells, which fight infections and raise the level of the stress hormone cortisol. In addition, in unsuccessful relationships, the level of infidelity is high, which ends up increasing the danger of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

Nonetheless, Divorce is not a panacea for a deteriorating immune system, since it is necessary to change the attitude towards fights and the factors that cause stress. In this case, relationships have remained stagnant, and a good alternative is to go to a consultation with a family psychologist.

A failed marriage breaks the heart. People who live in an environment of constant stress are at risk for cardiovascular disease. At the same time, the negative impact on the heart has a cumulative effect that, with age, gets worse.

A very unhappy marriage influences women in their 50s. According to the researchers, this phenomenon is explained by their high sensitivity to negative moments in their married life.

This statement has another face, which can help newlyweds maintain their health for many years to come. Support, mutual understanding and love will help in recovery from illness. It’s another reason to maintain kind and respectful relationships in marriage: you’ll live longer.

In couples where one of the spouses has type 2 diabetes, there is a high risk that both will develop this disease. The probability of getting sick increases by 26%. The reason probably lies in the common bad habits people start to share when they live together. Obesity and a love of fatty, salty food often become a real family pastime.

However, spouses can share not only bad habits, but also good habits. A healthy lifestyle, rejecting gluten-containing products, and adding foods rich in insoluble fiber to your diet can reduce your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Long quarrels in marriage are a serious stressor. Long recovery after injuries and operations can serve as a sign that there are difficulties in your marriage. And all because of the anti-inflammatory proteins: due to stress, they are released in small amounts and the wounds simply do not heal.

But for married couples, this research opens up bright prospects. Good family relationships help with recovery. Survival when having oncological diseases is greater. It is an added incentive to improve relationships and bring them to a more relaxed pace.

A failed marriage can actually lead to alcohol abuse and smoking. Having a long-term state of stress sometimes leads people to develop a harmful addiction and, in particular, the habit of eating junk food. Often, bad example can be contagious, and so the spouse shares the harmful hobbies with his partner.

However, the statistics are stubborn: divorced and single people are exposed to bad habits alike. It cannot be said that a failed marriage is the main reason for alcoholism.

While calm and mutually supportive relationships positively influence mental health, conflicts can lead to true depression. Living in a prolonged fighting state is capable of causing exogenous depression (caused by external reasons).

Advice: don’t wait for bad relationships in your marriage to lead you to a psychotherapist. Try to eliminate contradictions immediately after they arise. Do not allow situations where the fight is prolonged and begins to significantly harm your health.

People who live together gain an average of 2.5 kilos in just the first year of marriage. Of course, such weight gain will not lead to obesity if the marriage does not have disagreements and quarrels.

But if marital life isn’t so perfect or spouses don’t feel passion, then the risk of getting abdominal obesity as a side effect of an unhappy marriage is very high, especially for women. Abdominal obesity is characterized by the accumulation of fat in the belly area, shortness of breath and a high heart rate.

People who are in a marriage become less communicative and, in total, the number of friends and acquaintances is reduced. This effect is especially strong on first marriages. Psychologists have noticed that newlyweds prefer quiet afternoons to loud parties. Even contacts with neighbors are rarer and relationships are often lost.

Advice: do not think only of the couple. Friends and a wide range of relationships are simply necessary for the family and support the comfortable psychological environment at home.

In general, conflicts in the family negatively affect both husbands and wives. However, researchers at the University of Michigan have found that the negative effects are more evident in men. This position is possibly explained by their “masculinity”, as they find it more difficult to cry and talk about their feelings. Representatives of the “stronger sex” keep all their worries inside them, which leads to depression and unhealthy habits.

There are very frequent cases where people who live a long time in marriage start to have a sedentary lifestyle. The probability of either spouse going to the gym or doing some kind of exercise is quite low. Despite the very common myth about men, who are incessantly lying in the armchair, in reality women are lazier.

Even methods of solving family problems can have a negative impact on health. If you prefer not to express your displeasures and literally boil inside, the aggression that hasn’t come out can turn into neck or back pain. Such pains assume a psychosomatic character. Therefore, to avoid harm to health, you have to learn to express your feelings correctly: without insulting your partner, but at the same time exposing the situations that make you uncomfortable.

The enthusiasm and positive feeling that newlyweds receive during the wedding ceremony disappears, on average, after a year. Hormones are to blame: during this period, the level of joy hormones is reduced and spouses begin to show the dark sides of their character.