Thoughtful words `help couples stay fit`

Washington: Thoughtful words help couples stay fit, a new study has claimed.Previous research has shown that couples who are hostile to each other show health impairments and are at greater risk of disease.

Now, researchers in the US have found that couples who bring thoughtful words to a fight release lower amounts of stress-related proteins, suggesting rational communication between partners can ease the impact of marital conflict on the immune system. Individuals in a stressful situation -- as in a troubled relationship -- typically have elevated levels of chemicals known as cytokines. These proteins are produced by cells in the immune system and help the body mount an immune response during infection. However, abnormally high levels of these proteins are linked to illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and some cancers, say researchers. "Typically, if you bring people to a lab and put them under stress, either by engaging them in a conflict or giving them a public speaking task, you can see an increase in proinflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 (Il-6) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)," lead researcher Prof Jennifer Graham of Penn State University said. Graham added: "We specifically looked at words that are linked with cognitive processing in other research and which have been predictive of health in studies where people express emotion about stressful events. "These are words like -- think, because, reason, why -- that suggest people are either making sense of the conflict or at least thinking about it in a deep way." For the study, the 42 couples made two separate overnight visits over two weeks. "We found that, controlling for depressed mood, individuals who showed more evidence of cognitive discussion during their fights showed smaller increases in both Il-6 and TNF-alpha cytokines over a 24-hour period," said Graham. The findings have been published in the latest issue of the 'Health Psychology' journal.Bureau Report