Arguing with your partner can make you fat, study says

All those shouting matches and petty fights with your partner can cause even more harm apart from damaging your relationship – it can make you overweight.

Researchers at Ohio State University have found that bickering was linked to an appetite-triggering hormone, which makes us crave for junk food. They also found that the hunger pangs only affected people who had a healthy weight and not obese individuals.

As part of the study, couples ate a meal together before trying to resolve one or two conflicts in their relationship. After that they completed questionnaires about themselves and had samples of their blood and saliva taken, so that levels of an important stress-related hormone and numbers of immune cells could be tested.

The researchers discovered a correlation between marital stress and unhealthy food choices. They also found that couples experiencing inter-relationship hostilities typically reached for foods that were higher on fat, sugar and salt content.

Lisa Jaremka, who is the lead author of the study noted that though there was nothing to suggest the arguments caused hunger, there was still a strong correlation between the two, as reported in the Daily Mail.