For Women, Silence Can Be Hazardous to Health

A recent study finds that women who freely express themselves during disagreements are less likely to have serious long term health problems than those who silence their emotions. Women who suppress thoughts and feelings and force themselves to remain silent during marital disputes have a higher risk of depression, irritable bowel syndrome, as well as death. Dr. Elaine Eaker of Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises in Maryland claims that self-silencing during conflict may have had advantages long ago where short term survival outweighed long term problems.

For the study, Eaker's team followed over 3,500 men and women taking part in the Framingham Offspring Study. Most participants were aged 40-50 and were tracked for a 10 year period for the development of heart disease or any occurence of death. The most significant finding was that women who bottled up their emotions were four times more likely to die than women who spoke their mind during arguments. Dr. Eaker says that the study is the first to look at health problems in the context of marital relationships.

The study also found that marriage is good for men's health when compared to unmarried men. Husbands were almost half as likely to die during the 10 year period. Additionally, in situations where wives came home from work upset about their jobs, the hisband was 2.7 times more likely to develop heart disease than men with less stressed wives. Eaker believes that the findings highlight the significance of healthy communication and the presence of a safe environment to freely express feelings during a conflict.

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