Squabbling couples can suffer broken hearts

BAD relationships are officially bad for your heart, according to new research.

Psychologists found that women who get hostile when they argue with their husbands are more likely to suffer from hardening of the arteries, which can lead to heart attacks.

And men are more likely to get the condition if their wives - or they - act in a controlling manner.

The team from the University of Utah took 150 healthy married couples who were mostly in their 60s and asked them to pick a topic that caused disagreements in their marriage.

They then discussed the difficult subject for six minutes, while their conversations were rated for hostility and controlling behaviour.

Scans two days later measured the calcification, or hardening, of the couples’ arteries. In the relationships where both sides were hostile during the argument, “particularly high levels” of calcification were found.

Professor Tim Smith, who lead the research, said: “Disagreements are an unavoidable fact of relationships... What’s novel about this study is taking a snapshot of how couples talk to each other and relating that to a silent, progressive and potentially deadly disease.”