[SimpleLIving] Conflicted Feelings May Be Health Risk

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Misty L. Trepke

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Conflicted feelings may be health risk

 

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C510041324%2C00.html

 

Y., U. study finds love-hate mix hard on blood pressure

By Lois M. Collins

Deseret Morning News

 

People tend to avoid folks they dislike. But it may be harder to

stay away from those about whom you harbor mixed feelings - and

those conflicted relationships seem to have the most negative impact

on blood pressure and possibly overall health, according to a

Brigham Young University researcher.

 

How we relate to other people has an unquestioned impact on

health. But exactly what that impact is is still a matter of

speculation. And that's the question that Julianne Holt-Lunstad,

assistant professor of psychology at BYU, and colleagues at the

University of Utah set out to answer. Their study is being published

today in the American Psychological Association's Journal, Health

Psychology.

 

They found that blood pressure goes higher when you're dealing

with people about whom you have both positive and negative feelings

than with those you either like or dislike wholeheartedly. And blood

pressure is an important factor in cardiovascular health.

 

" In terms of significance, cardiovascular disease is the No. 1

cause of death for both men and women, " Holt-Lunstad said. " Blood

pressure is a predictor of cardiovascular outcomes. And we also know

from prior research that social relationships have an impact on all

causes of death. For instance, people with larger social networks

live longer than those who are more socially isolated. So we wanted

to take a more sophisticated look at relationships and their impact

on health; but rather than looking at the numbers, we are looking at

quality of relationships. "

 

The researchers had 49 men and 54 women, ages 18 to 46, wear hidden

blood pressure monitors on three different days: two work days and a

weekend. About five minutes into each conversation, they triggered

the device, which recorded their blood pressure. As soon as they

could, they filled out diaries that indicated whom they'd talked to

and the basics of their relationship, as well as whether the

conversation was positive or negative.

 

Overwhelmingly, the most stressful relationships are those that are

ambivalent, said Holt-Lunstad, who defined ambivalent relationships

as those involving people for whom you have " highly positive

feelings and some degree of negativity. " Like that dear friend who's

highly competitive or the mother you adore who pries or the pal

who's not reliable.

 

They found that blood pressure was pretty consistently lower in

interactions with immediate family members and spouses. (They're

planning a follow-up study to see how the ups and downs in a marital

relationship affect blood pressure.)

 

At this stage, Holt-Lunstad said, it's interesting. But researchers

are in the early stages of understanding it.

 

She said that when you seek support in times of stress, you might

want to be strategic in your choices, not increasing your stress by

going to someone with whom you never agree in that kind of

situation, for instance.

 

And she pointed out that ambivalent relationships are both

interesting and stressful in that you can exit more easily from bad

relationships than from those that are a mixture of good and bad

feelings.

 

Co-authors on the study are Bert N. Uchino, Timothy W. Smith,

Chrisana B. Cerny and Jill B. Nealey-Moore, all of the Department of

Psychology and Health Psychology Program at the U.