Your love life and health

Lifestyle Health & Fitness
1

This is a serious topic ladies and gentlemen, so please do not deviate from it :emmy:

I was reading a recent article in Glamour magazine talking about studies that show that women who are happy in their relationships (with their spouses or partners) exhibit lesser tendencies to have abdominal fat, high blood pressure and therefore heart disease.

That does make sense, because when you have peace of mind, you take care of yourself and aren’t preoccupied with stressful thoughts etc.

However some people may have a different opinion because recently, a cousin commented that I look skinny because my husband doesn’t take care of me. :nahi: He said “lagta nahi hai ki tum khatey peetay gharaney ki ho.”

So please share your views on this.

2

Re: Your love life and health

Hmmm…I think for our people being stressed otu means not eating or not having time to eat, whereas being chubby means you can afford food and therefore if u can afford food…ur problems cant be THAT bad. :hehe:

but what you (glamour) said, makes sense as well.

3

Re: Your love life and health

Sounds like your cousin was jealous of your smartness and wanted to know the raaz :p Is his wife fat?

4

Re: Your love life and health

Emotional security helps in developing a good self esteem. When you feel good about yourself, you like to take care of your self. It all makes sense.

5

It's not that I'm skinny...I'm just not fat :D He is divorced.

6

Re: Your love life and health

I think its sooooo true....i have experienced that...but I go the opposite way....when im not happy...i stop eating :( dnt even feel hungry...so im way toooooooooooo skinny, and have low bp instead of high!

7

Re: Your love life and health

^^Thats why I used the word "smartness" ... Us married ladies with kids cannot possibly be skinny. We can only be smart :p.

If were you, I would say "oooooh, thank you for calling me skinny.... I've been trying to lose weight since such a LONG time." ;)

We desis don't eat for emotional reasons, so I don't agree with Glamour magazine as far as desis are concerned :)

8

Re: Your love life and health

it doesnt add up.. atleast from waht ive seen

im very very happy mashallah in my married life and thats what relaxes me sadly.. i eat and eat! thankfully im not putting on weight cuz the lil devil makes me run about..

but even other friends who are happy in their marriages.. it doesnt make them take better care of themselves or eat healthy etc... i think that all depends on how important that kinda stuff is for you.. u do it for urself

OR

sometimes u do it for ure partner

on the contrary.. ive 2 realy good friends who would be called healthy look wise from their bodies.. prim and proper... but both have horrible marriages.. they do it for their men who call them fat if tehy even see them eating a cookie..

so i wouldnt say they are right bout happy marriage= healthy body and mind. well maybe mind.. but body? nopes.

9

I am sure it does, boss :D

10

Re: Your love life and health

The first thing I do when I get upset? Reach for a bar of Willy Wonka's Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Bar. Every bite is amazing when paired with Gone with the Wind.

Yes, Im an emotional eater...I eat when Im upset. :(

But when Im happy, Im all about manicures, pedicures, healthy eating, being active, etc.

Maybe there is some truth to it.

11

Re: Your love life and health

your love life has a deep impact on ever side of your personality. it could be your health, your career, your behavior or even your sense of humor. The more you are stress free, the more you are gona be focused on other things :)

12

I feel good about myself when im at my slimmest, so i agree with the less fat more happy theory.

We went to Pakistan just recently, and i just ate and ate and ate!!!, could not get into any of my clothes, hubby was fuming with me for not wearing any of my newly stitched clothes, why was i continuing to wear the same ones againa and again!!

Now that im back and have lost all the extra pounds, i wear a new suit everyday!

13

Re: Your love life and health

why only women? arent there men who go through this emotional eating thing?:hmmm:
for me it varies all the time, sometimes i find peace in eating when am stressed or emotionally low while sometimes i feel the need to exercise until i drop, lift weights until the muscles and ligaments of my body hurt:bummer:
it varies from person to person, but then again it’s hard to explain it to desis. like there’s one couple i know who live in our mohalla, they are quite healthy mashallah, pot belly and all, when their rishtedaar visit them, they say to the couple kitna pyaar he tum dono me (seemingly unaware of all the problems faced by this couple:rolleyes:)

14

Re: Your love life and health

I don't think it's only confined to stress from relationships...but also stress from other sources. Sometimes students (involved in rigorous studies) might put on weight from the stress of academics...which could lead to little time for exercise (combination of factors).

I also think that it can go either way. Sometimes when I'm stressed I can be an emotional eater......and there are also times when if I'm super stressed......I don't have much of appetite (your mind is consumed with worry)....resulting in weight loss.

I had to take a teaching test once...and at the examination site, I met this woman who looked very in-shape....as though she worked out regularly. She told me about her abusive husband and MIL....and how she had gotten a divorce not too long ago. I asked her if she worked out regularly.......she told me she lost (can't remember....maybe it was 40 some pounds) from the stress of her marriage.

Stress CAN lead to weight gain. But everyone responds differently to stress. Even if weight is not affected.....other things are (high blood pressure, relationships, etc)...so it's still unhealthy.

15

Re: Your love life and health

When I'm happy, I won't eat for days.

16

I have been doing some research on affect of sex on women, for a project. Here are a couple of abstracts from the papers I found:

[QUOTE]
Abstract:
A growing empirical literature demonstrates that the only sexual behavior consistently associated with indices of better physiological and psychological function is the one sexual behavior relevant to potential gene propagation. In the present study, 30 Portuguese women reported on their frequency of different sexual behaviors and corresponding orgasm rates and also completed the Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) Inventory. As hypothesized, frequency of penile-vaginal intercourse correlated positively with PRQC dimensions: Satisfaction, Intimacy, Trust, Passion, Love (all r ≥ .40) and Global Relationship Quality (r = .55). Noncoital sexual behaviors with a partner were uncorrelated with the PRQC dimensions. Masturbation frequency was inversely associated with Love (r = -.38). Penile-vaginal orgasmic frequency correlated positively with PRQC dimensions: Satisfaction, Intimacy, Passion, Love (all r ≥ .44) and Global Relationship Quality (r = .52). Penile-vaginal intercourse orgasmic consistency was inversely associated with masturbation frequency. Social desirability scores did not confound the associations. Results are discussed in terms of both evolutionary and psychoanalytic theories.

Costa, R. M. & Brody, S. (2007). Women’s relationship quality is associated with specifically penile-vaginal intercourse orgasm and frequency. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 33, 319-327.

Abstract:
I examined the relationship of recalled and diary recorded frequency of penile-vaginal intercourse (FSI), noncoital partnered sexual activity, and masturbation to measured waist and hip circumference in 120 healthy adults aged 19-38. Slimmer waist (in men and in the sexes combined) and slimmer hips (in men and women) were associated with greater FSI. Slimmer waist and hips were associated with rated importance of intercourse for men. Noncoital partnered sexual activity had a less consistent association with slimness. Slimmer waist and hips were associated with less masturbation (in men and in the sexes combined). I discuss the results in terms of differences between different sexual behaviors, attractiveness, emotional relatedness, physical sensitivity, sexual dysfunction, sociobiology, psychopharmacological aspects of excess fat and carbohydrate consumption, and implications for sex therapy.

Abstract:
Penile–vaginal intercourse (PVI) but not other sexual behavior is associated with better psychological and physiological function. I
examined the relationship of sexual behavior patterns to blood pressure (BP) and its reactivity to stress (public speaking and verbal
arithmetic). For a fortnight, 24 women and 22 men used daily diaries to record PVI, masturbation, and partnered sexual behavior in the
absence of PVI. Persons who reported PVI (but no other sexual activities) had better stress response (less reactivity and/or lower baseline
levels) than persons reporting other or no sexual behaviors. Persons who only masturbated or had partnered sex without PVI had 14 mmHg
more systolic BP reactivity than those who had PVI but not the other behaviors. Many variables were examined but failed to confound the
observed relationships. The magnitude of the sexual behavior effect on BP reactivity is greater than of other factors in the literature. These
findings add to the research corpus on the benefits of PVI (differentiated from other sexual activities).

Abstract:
Research indicates that prolactin increases following orgasm are involved in a feedback loop that serves to decrease arousal through
inhibitory central dopaminergic and probably peripheral processes. The magnitude of post-orgasmic prolactin increase is thus a
neurohormonal index of sexual satiety. Using data from three studies of men and women engaging in masturbation or penile–vaginal
intercourse to orgasm in the laboratory, we report that for both sexes (adjusted for prolactin changes in a non-sexual control condition), the
magnitude of prolactin increase following intercourse is 400% greater than that following masturbation. The results are interpreted as an
indication of intercourse being more physiologically satisfying than masturbation, and discussed in light of prior research reporting greater
physiological and psychological benefits associated with coitus than with any other sexual activities.

2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

**Abstract:
**We examined the relationship between recalled and diary recorded
frequency of penile-vaginal intercourse (FSI) and both resting heart
rate variability (HRV; an index of cardiac autonomic control and
parasympathetic tone associated with cardiovascular health outcomes)
and resting diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in 120 healthy
adults aged 19–38 (subjects scoring above the 87th percentile on
the Lie scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory were excluded
from analyses). As in a previous smaller study, greater HRV was
associated with greater FSI (but not masturbation or non-coital sex
with a partner) and rated importance of intercourse. There were
no sex differences in the HRV-FSI relationship, and the relationship
was not explained by including measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism,
Depression, Trait Anxiety, or partnership satisfaction. However,
the previously obtained negative association of FSI with DBP
was not replicated.
[/QUOTE]

I don't have the name of the article and journal etc handy. But if you want them, I can find them.