Because fighting with your significant other isn't already bad enough, new research suggests that being in a contentious relationship slows your fat metabolism, especially if you've ever suffered from depression.
Researchers at Ohio State University served up high-fat meals to 43 married couples, then asked the pairs to privately discuss a touchy relationship issue while they recorded the chats, reviewing them later for signs of hostility—think eye-rolling, criticism, and worse.
And while these couples chatted away, researchers came in at 20-minute intervals to measure how many calories they burned, as well as took blood to assess insulin and triglyceride levels.What the researchers found was that hostile participants who showed symptoms or had a history of depression burned about 31 fewer calories per hour than those who treated their partners with respect. (Not surprisingly, those on the receiving end of the hostility also burned fewer calories.) They also had higher levels of both insulin and triglycerides, which increase the likelihood of obesity.
"Our results probably underestimate the health risks because the effects of only one meal were analyzed. Most people eat every four to five hours and often dine with their spouses," said Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at the Ohio State University and lead author of the study. "Meals provide prime opportunities for ongoing disagreements in a troubled marriage, so there could be a longstanding pattern of metabolic damage stemming from hostility and depression."
So, that's kind of scary, huh?
What do you think about the study? Has a bad relationship ever affected your weight?