A happy marriage apparently is good medicine, but hostile spouses may be harmful to one an
others health. Couples in conflicted marriages take longer than the happily married to heal from all kinds of wounds, from minor scrapes(擦伤)or athletic injuries to major surgery, suggests a study carried out over the weekend. And the health toll taken by a stressful job seems to be eased when the worker has a pleasurable home life. This new research, reported at an American Psychosomatic Society meeting, adds to growing evidence that marriage has an impact on health. In the wound healing study, 42 couples agreed to let researchers use a device to create several minor wounds on their skin in two sessions about two months apart. The first time, couples were told to discuss a neutral topic; the next time they were given half an hour to resolve an issue or two on which they disagreed. Their discussions were monitored. Couples took longer to heal when asked to discuss points of conflict than neutral issues. Hostile couples—attacking each other with criticism, sarcasm—healed the slowest. It took them 40% longer, or two more days, to heal, and they also produced less of the proteins linked to healing.