photo by bensonkua

Bad relationships don’t just take a toll on your mental health, they do damage to your heart and metabolic processes as well.

While both men and women in “strained” unions, those marked by arguing and being angry, were more likely to feel depressed than happier partners, the women in the contentious relationships were more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and other markers of what’s known as “metabolic syndrome,” said study author Nancy Henry, a doctoral candidate in clinical healthy psychology at the University of Utah.

Metabolic syndrome is known to boost the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

If your relationship isn’t headed in a direction you’re happy with, you have yet another reason to ask, is it worth it?

Alternately, a new study draws into question previous conclusions about marriage and relationships.  Previously, biological anthropologists like Helen Fisher concluded that early in a relationship heightened hormones drove passion and lust, which leveled off after 2-4 years to a more level attachment that kept many relationships together.

In a just published study in the Review of General Psychology, researchers looked at couples from college and middle-age brackets who experienced romantic, passionate, or friendship based love in short and long-term relationships.  Couples who kept the romance going had the most satisfaction in both types of relationships.  Couples in more obsessive relationships were happier in the short-term, than long.  Since it’s just a handful of couples, much more research needs to be done, which could shift our understanding of human partnerships.