It’s how you fight, and how you
react to and resolve conflict, that matters.
And, the impact on your
physical health varies dramatically,
depending on whether you’re a man or a woman.
One fighting style in particular
garnered special attention.
So-called “self-silencing” – keeping quiet
during a fight – is especially damaging to
women’s health, whereas
bottling it up did ‘not’ have a measurable
impact on the physiology of men…
women who don’t speak their minds have a higher
mortality rate than women who always
spoke their minds (depression,
eating disorders, heart disease).
Additionally, the way you interact
during marital arguments is as important
a heart risk factor as whether
you smoke or have high cholesterol.
For women, whether a husband’s
arguing style is warm or hostile had
the biggest impact on her heart health.
Interestingly, the level of warmth or
hostility had no impact on men’s heart health.
Instead, the men’s heart risk
increased if disagreements with his
wife involved a ‘battle for control’
– regardless of whether he, or his wife,
was the one vying for control.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/10/18/how-to-make-a-difference-in-your-marriage-and-your-health.aspx
