Bad Relationships Are Bad For Your Health
Anyone who has been through an ugly divorce, difficult parents (or children) or psycho friends can tell you in a second that not all relationships are good for your health. We all have some people in our lives that create stress and problems (no names, please).Researchers were able to measure relationship quality in a study of 9,000 men and women in the British civil service. The participants were given surveys about their relationships and the number and type of negative aspects in their close relationships. They were also closely monitored for health problems.
People with more negative aspects in their close relationships had a 34% increase in the risk of heart problems (even after taking weight, social support and other factors into consideration). That’s a pretty substantial increase.
Bottom Line
Interacting with most of your friends and family members is a good thing. It increases your life expectancy, protects your brain and more. But interacting with some of your other friends and family members (you know who I'm talking about) can actually make you less healthy. Do your best to maximize the first type of interactions while minimizing the second. You can do this by avoiding the people who are negative in your life, using relaxation techniques to help you “let go” of stress after encountering these people and learning to manage these people actively so they do not impact your life and your health as much.More on Relationships and Aging
Source(s): Roberto De Vogli, PhD, MPH; Tarani Chandola, DPhil; Michael Gideon Marmot, PhD, FRCP. Negative Aspects of Close Relationships and Heart Disease. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(18):1951-1957.
