Matters of the heart can affect the heart

SINGAPORE - Matters of the heart can influence actual heart health, according to researchers at the University of Utah in the United States.

They found that when both partners perceive the support they get from each other as ambivalent - sometimes helpful and sometimes upsetting - each partner's levels of coronary artery calcification, or hardening, tend to be particularly high, said the Association for Psychological Science in a statement.

"The findings suggest that couples who have more ambivalent views of each other actively interact or process relationship information in ways that increase their stress or undermine the supportive potential in the relationship," said Professor Bert Uchino, a psychological scientist at the University of Utah.

"This, in turn, may influence their cardiovascular disease risk."

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