New research suggests when one member of a couple is exhibiting behaviour that puts them at risk of heart disease, more often than their ‘better’ half is doing the same thing.
The team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA, discovered this when assessing the cardiovascular risk of 5,000 couples who took part in an employee wellness program.
Researchers discovered 79 per cent of the couples fell into the ‘non-ideal’ category for cardiovascular health and both halves of the couple were partaking in risky behaviours, like having an unhealthy diet or not getting enough exercise.
The study’s corresponding author Sami Mora, of the Brigham Divisions of Preventative Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, says this shows just how important it is to address healthy behaviour in both sides of a relationship.
“We know a lot about cardiovascular risk factors for individuals but not for couples,” she said.
“We expected to see some shared risk factors, but it was a surprise to see that the vast majority of couples were in the non-ideal category for overall cardiovascular health.”
So, it’s not just about doing the right thing, but making sure your partner does so as well!
Makes sense to us.
