Your relationship can impact your life in a lot of ways, but it may actually affect your body, too—especially if things aren't going well in your bond. New research from the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University found that people who have a troubled marriage and a history of depression actually respond differently to high-fat, high-calorie meals (and not in a good way).
The study was presented at the New Horizons in Science briefings at ScienceWriters2014, an annual conference hosted this year by Ohio State University—but has not yet been published in a scientific journal. Researchers asked 43 healthy married couples with the average age of 38 to come into the lab for two 9.5-hour visits. While they were there, they measured each person’s history of mood disorders and had each participant talk about a recent marital spat. Finally, the researchers had all of the participants eat a high-fat, 930-calorie meal—eggs, turkey sausage, biscuits and gravy—and then took their bloodwork and measured their energy expenditure after the meal (how many calories their bodies burned off).
MORE: 6 Ways Your Relationship Status Can Affect Your Health
The results? Those who reported more hostile marriages and also had a history of mood disorders burned 31 fewer calories per hour after the meal, had 12 percent more insulin in their blood, and had higher triglyceride levels than the other participants. What’s more, those with just a history of mood disorders also had higher glucose levels after the meal. All of these factors can lead to serious health conditions over time, like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Study authors attribute the findings to the combined chronic stress brought on by both a mood disorder and a hostile relationship. When taken together, it can have an intense effect on your system, leading your body to actually burn fewer calories and raise your levels of triglycerides. The end result would likely be increased weight gain over time. That said, it's important to remember that this was just one study on only 43 couples, and it has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal; more research on the subject is needed before it can be stated that marital stress actually makes you pack on the pounds.
MORE: 5 Signs You're in a Toxic Relationship
The bigger message here is that while your relationship is hopefully awesome, it can also affect your health in negative ways if it’s not going so well. If that’s the case, be sure to seek counsel from a relationship therapist who can help you work through these issues to bring you to a better place. Read more about how your relationship status can affect your health here.
MORE: 3 Ways Arguing Can Be Good for Your Relationship
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