Can changes in your relationship effect changes in your body?

Ups and downs in a person’s closest relationship are associated with physical influences on the body, according to an international study led by psychology lecturer Dr Brian Don.

More than 4,000 people in countries including the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand had changes in their heart rates and blood pressure recorded via smartphone sensor.

Participants also periodically reported on their closest relationship, answering questions like, “Did you experience conflict with this person today?”

More positive experiences and fewer negative experiences were associated with lower stress, better coping, and better physiological functioning in daily life.

The effects were small but meaningful, the scientists said.
 

Negative relationship experiences tended to predict elevated blood pressure, signalling the potential for long-term damage to a person’s health.

The study doesn’t prove that relationship experiences have physiological effects, showing only statistical associations, not causality.

"It would be useful to examine other physiological states, such as neuroendocrine or sympathetic nervous system responses as outcomes of daily positive and negative relationship experiences, which may reveal different patterns of associations," says Dr Don.

The study ran from 2019 to 2021, with people usually taking part for three weeks.

It was just published as "The Good, the Bad, and the Variable: Examining Stress and Blood Pressure Responses to Close Relationships" in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.