Fighting with Your Partner Can Prolong Your Life

12.05.2011 | By: S. K.

Do not suppress your anger and negative emotions. Showing your emotions openly can prolong your life!

Learn to show your emotions to your partner and deal with them. It's healthy to do so. (PhotoXpress)

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How many times have you gone through fighting with your partner? Have you counted your quarrels? Are there are so many rows that you got completely used to them? Constant fighting definitely does not have a beneficial effect on your sex life, but a row or two can – as you know – be a perfect stimulation. In any case, researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that fighting with your partner prolongs life.

The study revealed that the partner who suppresses their anger dies sooner than the partner who shows his or her anger. Now you are probably thinking that the death of the one who does not express anger can be a result of numerous factors, but American scientists claim otherwise.

They observed over 200 couples and the study lasted for 17 years. The couples were of approximately the same age and in good health. They were divided into four categories. The first category was comprised of those couples where both partners express their fears, anger, sadness ... The second and third categories included those where one of the partners shows their anger and the second suppresses theirs and passively suffers and tolerates their beloved's outbursts. Couples where both partners suppress their feelings were allocated into the fourth group.

Ernest Harburg, professor and leader of the research said: “When both spouses suppressed their anger at the other when unfairly attacked, earlier death was twice as likely than in all other types.”

In figures

Of all the couples, there were 26 couples where both partners suppressed their negative emotions. In this group, 13 people died in 17 years. There were 41 deaths in the group of the remaining 166 couples. Those who died largely didn't express emotions.

There are, unfortunately, no data on the manner in which they died. It definitely holds true that expressing emotions, both negative and positive, is healthy. However, before you have an outburst of anger, consider that everything can be said in a much nicer way. Who says you have to communicate by yelling? Showing your anger can be communicated without throwing objects around the room. If you are the one who is angry, while you partner keeps silent, remember this article and ask your loved one why he or she keeps silent. If your partner throws you a strange look, give him or her this article to read, as well as a good book on emotions and how they function.