Brooding Can Be Deadly

Couples who both express their anger and resolve their issues live longer and have healthier marriages than couples in which one or both members suppress their anger, show preliminary findings from a 17-year study on married couples.

University of Michigan researchers conducted a longitudinal analysis in which they examined 192 couples who were divided into four groups based on argument style: husbands and wives who jointly expressed their anger, couples in which only the wife expressed anger, couples in which only the husband expressed anger and husbands and wives who both suppressed anger.

Results showed 13 deaths in the 26 couples who jointly suppressed anger compared to just 41 deaths among the other 166. Among brooding couples, both spouses died in 23 percent of cases, compared to just six percent in the other three groups. Women showed a direct relation between suppressed anger and early death. Meanwhile, men were more likely to die earlier when suppressed anger was coupled with lung problems or hypertension.

In a podcast released with the findings, lead researcher Ernest Harburg linked physical problems to the suppressed feelings.

"Suppressed anger influences other morbid systems like hypertensions or ulcers," he said. "The interaction affects, in ways we do not know, the other morbid systems."

Read more: A good fight may keep you and your marriage healthy