Lover's spat can affect health

A small lover's spat can adversely affect your health.

A study conducted by the Penn State show that a fight with your loved one can have physical repercussions for those dealing with chronic conditions like arthritis or diabetes.

The research focused on two groups - one with arthritis and one with diabetes - and found that those who had strained relationship with their partners reported worse symptoms. The participants in both the groups kept daily diaries that recorded their mood and the severity of their symptoms. Participants also noted whether their interactions with their partners were positive or negative.

"It was exciting that we were able to see this association in two different data sets - two groups of people with two different diseases," said researcher Lynn Martire. "The findings gave us insight into how marriage might affect health, which is important for people dealing with chronic conditions like arthritis or diabetes."

Previous researches have shown a connection between satisfying marriages and better health, however, there has been a lack of research to find how day-to-day experiences impact those with chronic illness.

"We study chronic illnesses, which usually involve daily symptoms or fluctuations in symptoms," Martire said. "Other studies have looked at the quality of someone's marriage right now. But we wanted to drill down and examine how positive or negative interactions with your spouse affect your health from day to day."

Researchers also found that when participants in the arthritis group experienced greater pain, their moods were worse and this affected their relationship with their partner even the next day.

"This almost starts to suggest a cycle where your marital interactions are more tense, you feel like your symptoms are more severe, and the next day you have more marital tension again," Martire said. "We didn't find this effect in the participants with diabetes, which may just be due to differences in the two diseases."

These results could help create interventions targeted at helping couples with chronic diseases.

"We usually focus on illness-specific communications, but looking at tension in a marriage isn't tied to the disease, it's not a symptom of the disease itself," Martire said. "It's a measure you can get from any couple. It suggests to me that looking beyond the illness, to improve the overall quality of the relationship might have some impact on health."