Marital Stress Increases Heart Disease Risk- Smooch

Don't do it. It's bad for your health!

Hang up the phone.

Leave the house. Put down the donut. Separate yourself. New news out of the UK shows that having a stressful marriage can increase a woman's risk of heart disease. So if your marriage is giving you more misery than pleasure, according to this study, it's best to break it off before your health takes a downward spiral.

Turns out, being in a stressful, strained relationship not only increases blood pressure, it also increases the wives' cholesterol and obesity rates.  

But don't think only the women suffer from these bad relationships. Their male counterparts, otherwise know as their husbands, also suffer from depression and stress. It doesn't just manifest itself in disease.

Hey, I say use this to your advantage. The next time you're in a fight with your man, storm out of the room while exclaiming at the top of your lungs, "At least I'm not giving you heart disease!"

And, oh snap, he can't say a thing.

"If you are interested in your cardiovascular risk - and we all should be because it is the leading killer for both genders - we should be concerned about not just traditional risk factors [such as blood pressure and cholesterol] but the quality of our emotional and family lives," said a researcher.

And, Nancy Henry, a psychologist who worked on the study follows by saying, "We know from previous research that women are more sensitive and responsive to relationship problems than men. Improving aspects of intimate relationships might help your emotional and physical well-being."

In light of all this info, I have to wonder what kind of disease you get from working in a bad work environment.

Think about it, people - take care of your ticker!