Nagging Could Drive Men To An Early Grave, study shows

“Nagging could drive men to an early grave, study suggests,” The Independent reports. A Danish study found that both sexes were adversely affected by constant nagging, but men seemed to be more vulnerable.

A cohort study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the association between stressful social relations and death from any cause.

Around 315 extra deaths per 100,000 people per year could be caused by spousal demands and worries, they said.

However, women appeared immune to nagging as there was little effect on their death rates.

Stress is known to harm health, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke and encouraging poor habits such as eating junk food and lack of exercise.

The researchers said men tended to respond to stress by creating higher levels of the hormone cortisol which is linked to poor health.

Dr Rikke Lund, the author of the study at University of Copenhagen, said: “Men also have fewer people in their social network than women who tend to share their problems and worries with more people.

“Their partner is more important to them in a relatively small social network.

“It is interesting that we have identified that males who are exposed to worries and demands by their partners have higher mortality and are the ones we should focus on.” The study suggested that going to work could provide relief from a stressful relationship because men who were unemployed and frequently nagged were even more likely to die.

The combined effect of frequent demands and worries from a partner and being out of work could account for an extra 462 deaths per 100,000 people per year, it was calculated.

Agencies/Canadajournal