It's time to let go of the minor upsets. People who get easily agitated by a family argument or flat tire have a much higher risk of developing chronic diseases years later, new research has found.
A study of more than 1,000 people found those who dwelled for more than 24 hours on mundane stressors had much weaker immune systems and more heart problems 10 years down the line. By contrast, those who could 'let it go' did not experience significant health changes over the decade-long study.
The findings, published today in the journal Psychological Science, provide some of the clearest evidence to date that negative emotions can impact physical health. More importantly, the researchers at the University of California, Irvine said, the study hammers home that everyday upsets can be just as damaging to our minds and bodies as major traumatic events like divorce or death.
'Our research shows negative emotions that linger after even minor, daily stressors have important implications for our long term physical health,' said Kate Leger, a graduate teaching assistant at UC Irvine.
'When most people think of the types of stressors that impact health, they think of the big things, major life events that severely impact their lives, such as the death of a loved one or getting divorced.
'But accumulating findings suggest it is not just the big events, but minor, everyday stressors that can impact our health as well.'
Leger and her team analyzed 1,155 people in the Midlife in the United States Survey, a nationally representative study of adults. In the survey, the participants answered questions about the daily stressors they had experienced across eight consecutive days - and the effect they had on them. Each day they reported how much of the time over the previous 24 hours they had felt a variety of emotions, such as being lonely, afraid, irritable and angry.
The subsequent part of the study took place a decade later, when they completed surveys that assessed their chronic illnesses and functional limitations.
All together, Leger found a simple flat tire, bad grade or argument has an effect on an individual's health when the bad feeling it generates spills over into the following day.
Critically, this revealed a link between lingering bad feelings in response to a stressor and a greater number of health problems. These included chronic illnesses, functional impairments and difficulties with everyday tasks. The associations remained regardless of individuals' gender, education and health at the outset. And they held even after the researchers took their same day emotional responses and average number of stressors into account.
Leger said: 'This means health outcomes don't just reflect how people react to daily stressors, or the number of stressors they are exposed to.
'There is something unique about how negative they feel the next day that has important consequences for physical health.'
The researchers suggest the phenomenon could play out through activation of stress-related systems or through health behaviors - two potential mechanisms that offer avenues for future research.
Leger added: 'Stress is common in our everyday lives. It happens at work, it happens at school, it happens at home and in our relationships.
'Our research shows the strategy to 'just let it go' could be beneficial to our long term physical health.'
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