Arguments cause long-term heartache

Worrying about an argument can cause stress

Dwelling on an argument with your partner could be worse for your heart than the stress of running a marathon, US researchers warn.

They say thinking about emotional events, such as rows, leads to higher blood pressure which has a long-term effect on your health.

In contrast, they say that although physical activities such as running increase blood pressure and cause some stress, the body recovers more quickly.

Stress is a factor in raising blood pressure, and high blood pressure is linked to heart disease.

A sudden increase in heart rate and rise in blood pressure brought on by a stressful situation may create an additional risk

Alison Shaw, British Heart Foundation

The researchers say that although studies have looked at ongoing stresses such as a demanding job or problems at home, there has been little attention paid to the effects of a one-off emotional event.

Researchers from the University of California gave 72 students emotional or physical tests.

They were asked either to count backwards while being interrupted or avoid an electric shock. They had higher blood pressure when asked to remember the tasks.

Distracted

But for students told to walk or put their hands in freezing water, there was no increase in blood pressure when asked to remember the task.

And the blood pressure of students who had undertaken the "emotional" tasks took much longer to recover to normal levels.

Other students were left alone after an emotional task to dwell on it, and had higher blood pressure, than those who were distracted from thinking about it.

How difficult the task was had no effect on later blood pressure levels.

But those who experienced fear and nervousness during the test were able to clearly recall those emotions and re-create their cardiovascular response.

Laura Glynn, assistant professor of psychiatry, who led the research, said: "Exposure to emotional stress may be of greater potential harm to cardiovascular health than stresses that lack emotion, even though both types of stress may have provoked the same initial responses.

"Preventing the damaging effects of stress may involve not only reducing exposure to stressors, but also reducing opportunities to ruminate over past stress."

She added: "Our study indicates that certain people may be at increased risk for developing heart disease, based at least partly on how they respond to stress.

"Developing ways to intervene with rumination behaviour and encouraging social support for these individuals may help prevent emotional stress from contributing to heart disease later."

'Unclear'

Alison Shaw, cardiac nurse advisor at the British Heart Foundation, told BBC News Online: "Four different types of psychosocial factor have been found to be most consistently associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease: work stress, lack of social support, depression, including anxiety, and personality, particularly hostility.

"However, as yet the links between stress and coronary heart disease are unclear.

"While this study is interesting, the sample is extremely small, and more research would need to be carried out to make valuable conclusions about the effects of past stressful events on heart health. "

She said coronary heart disease could be due to a number of factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, obesity, lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet.

"If someone already has a combination of these risk factors and a history of underlying heart disease, a sudden increase in heart rate and rise in blood pressure brought on by a stressful situation may create an additional risk."

The research is published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.