Fighting with your spouse might be bad for your marriage, but a new study finds that it’s definitely bad for your health. Especially if you’re sleep deprived.
Researchers from The Ohio State University Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research found that sleep-deprived married couples have higher levels of stress-related inflammation after they argue compared with their well-rested counterparts. This puts them at higher risk for serious medical problems, including heart disease, osteoporosis, Type 2 diabetes and even Alzheimer’s disease. Inflammation, which can be a sign of a potentially harmful autoimmune response, is a common denominator in those conditions. The combination of lack of sleep and an argument caused inflammation markers to rise, according to the new research.
[See: What Only Your Partner Knows About Your Health.]
“We found that when both factors came into play, a loss of sleep followed by conflict, there was about a 10 percent increase in inflammation,” says Stephanie Wilson, lead researcher of the study and postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State’s Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research.
Inflammation is an important part of the immune system, and it’s helpful for a minor incident such as a cut because it promotes healing. However, when inflammation is chronic and systemic, it’s associated with damage to organs over time, as it doesn’t give them a break to repair themselves. It’s present in health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
The new research, which involved 43 couples, analyzed blood samples from participants during two study visits. The couples recorded how many hours they had slept the previous two nights, and then researchers directed them to talk about an issue that was fraught in their marriage, such as finances, housework or infidelity. “It was set up to really bring up the most recent, hottest, most relevant disagreements they have,” Wilson says. Blood samples were taken again following the couple’s conflict.
[See: 10 Seemingly Innocent Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore.]
As it turns out, spouses who fought after getting less than seven hours of sleep had higher levels of inflammation than they did before they fought, as well as higher levels than well-rested couples who disagreed, according to the study results, published in May in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. “We found that fights are more likely to break out if couples had gotten less sleep. Couples were more hostile to each other,” Wilson says. “It’s easier to get into a spat if you haven’t had a good night of sleep.”
Researchers tested the participants’ blood for two common inflammation markers, known as interleukin 6 and TNF alpha, both of which stimulate immune response.
Wilson noted that the tired couples did not have higher inflammation before the arguments. “They had a greater inflammatory response to the conflict,” she says. “That tells us that less sleep increased vulnerability to a stressor.”
While a brief spike in inflammation is not worrisome, experts say, inflammation over time is linked to long-term medical issues.
Dr. Pamela S. Douglas, Ursula Geller Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Diseases in the Department of Medicine at Duke University and director of the Multimodality Imaging Program at Duke Clinical Research Institute, says the study findings are interesting because of the implications of inflammation. Experts have not proven that inflammation directly causes heart disease, but rather that inflammation is associated with plaque build up in blood vessels, which is a precursor to heart attack, stroke and other conditions. “Lots of diseases are associated with inflammation: lupus, inflammatory bowel disease,” Douglas says. “Inflammation is involved in heart failure.”
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, the study’s senior author and director of the Institute of Behavioral Medicine Research at the Wexner Medical Center, says even a small increase in inflammation is concerning if it’s persistent. “If this is a pattern, and if couples don’t find ways to effectively address their differences, having continuously elevated levels of inflammation could put them at a higher risk for a wide range of diseases,” Kiecolt-Glaser says.
Researchers found that lack of sleep was an indicator for “more negative or punishing marital behavior.”
Study participants who were able to talk about their hot-button issues productively had lower levels of inflammation, Wilson says. She found three commonalities in couples who were able to calmly discuss topics that often cause tension: First, the calmer couples were “true to their emotions, and they didn’t hold back their feelings,” Wilson says. They were also able to think about how their spouse was approaching the problem. And they were able to reframe the conflict,even laughing at some aspect of it, she says. “The implication is there is a healthy way to disagree,” Wilson says.
Study findings also indicate that if just one partner got at least seven hours sleep, conflicts were less stressful and more neutralized.
But Americans are often sleep deprived. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of people don’t get enough sleep, which can take its toll on both your patience and your body. “Sleep is critical to maintaining health,” Wilson says.
[See: Trouble Sleeping? Ask Yourself Why.]
If couples have “protective factors” such as otherwise good health, they’re likely to stave off some of the negative effects of sleep deprivation and inflammation for longer, Wilson says. “But if you have other risk factors, if you’re not getting enough exercise, smoking, not having a good diet, problems will develop faster,” she continues. “Fighting with your partner might escalate that, as well.”
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Is Arguing With Your Spouse Bad for Your Heart? originally appeared on usnews.com
