A happy marriage can be the key to a happy life, but a new study shows that an unhappy marriage may be the path to heart disease.  The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that adverse changes in marital quality increased cardiovascular risk.  This was particularly true for older married couples than for younger and the effect was more pronounced for women than for men.

The research team came from Michigan State University.  According to a university press release, said that the study found that negative effects were bigger than positive ones.  In other words, a bad marriage is more harmful to the heart than a good marriage is beneficial.

Cardiovascular risk was measured in the study by hypertension, rapid heart rate, C-reactive protein, and general cardiovascular events.  The risk becomes stronger at older ages, meaning that the stress from a bad marriage can trigger a more intense cardiovascular response.  With declining immune function and increasing frailty, the effects of cardiovascular risk are magnified.

The Mayo Clinic reports that heart disease encompasses a range of conditions that affect the heart.  Those diseases include, but are not limited to, blood vessel diseases, such as coronary artery disease; heart rhythm problems, or arrhythmias; and heart defects that have been present since birth, known as congenital heart defects.  Though some of these issues are a matter of genetics, many forms of heart disease can be prevented, treated, or mitigated with healthy lifestyle choices.  To decrease cardiovascular risk, it is important to stop smoking, control blood pressure, control cholesterol, exercise, and manage type 2 diabetes.