Women, Marriage and Heart Disease?

I discovered this article on MSN.com the other day and wanted to share in my blog. I'm very interested in women's health, fitness and diet. I think it's interesting the connection being made between the stress of marriage and heart disease in women. Check it out...

It's normal to have your share of tiffs with your spouse, but if your relationship with your partner is marked by constant stress and strain, your risk of heart attack increases up to 34 percent, according to a 12-year study of more than 9,000 men and women published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers found that people who reported chronic conflict in their closest relationship (which, for the majority, was with their spouse) had the highest heart disease risk. The reason: All that anger and stress triggers a flood of hormones that cause the heart to beat faster and pump harder, leading to higher blood pressure and greater wear on cardiac blood vessels. What's more, an unhappy marriage may drive you to heart-harming behaviors such as eating poorly, drinking more or smoking, says Anastasia Georgiades, Ph.D., an assistant research professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.

To avoid a heart attack—not to mention improve your marriage—consider going for counseling, says Georgiades. This is particularly urgent advice if you feel uncomfortable or unsafe speaking up during marital spats: Women who don't speak their mind during these disagreements have four times the risk of dying from any cause (as opposed to old age) compared with those who express their feelings, according to a recent study. So ask your family doctor for a referral to a therapist or find one at therapistlocator.net.

source: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cholesterol/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100250224&page=1