Love and relationships for sure affect our bodies and minds. In the previous post, we explained what happens in our brains when we fall in love. If you missed the post, you should definitely check it. You will find many interesting insights useful for everyday life.
In this blog, we will pay attention to how stress affects our relationships. The recent years have been quite stressful for many people around the world, so below you may find some nice tips for understanding you and your partner.
How does chronic stress affect us and our relationships?
Though we all consider stress a normal part of our lives, chronic stress can be very harmful to our relationships. It can lead to negative physical and emotional effects and, in the end, make us treat our partners in an incorrect way.
In particular, chronic stress can cause:
- Decreased sexual desire. Stress can bring down your libido and sexual desire. As a result, there will be less physical intimacy in the couple and satisfaction with the relationship will go down.
- More conflicts. People under stress are easier to annoy and irritate, they are more negative and critical. Even if in the beginning the partner can do their best to understand and support the stressed partner, in the end, the constant flow of criticism starts to destroy the feeling of love, and conflicts arise.
- Communication problems. Chronic stress can make a person more closed and less eager to talk. Partners will start to connect less emotionally and feel isolated and detached. Less communication and emotional intimacy between partners will in its turn lead to misunderstandings, mutual blaming, and even the termination of the relationship.
- Health issues. Stress causes tension in the body and in the end leads to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and depression. Health issues create even more challenges for the relationship.
- Decreased emotional connection. Chronic stress can make it difficult for partners to connect emotionally, leading to feelings of isolation and detachment in the relationship.
Is there any real evidence about this harmful effect of stress?
Every year, there is a lot of research and talks about stress. For example, its influence on relationships was studied and published in the Journal of Marriage and Family. The study found that financial stress is one of the main factors of conflicts in families. According to the study, many couples that experience chronic financial stress have higher levels of marital distress and want to divorce.
The journal Personal Relationships published a study, according to which stress negatively influences relationship satisfaction and physical intimacy between love partners. Couples who have higher levels of stress often at the same time have lower levels of sexual desire and satisfaction.
One more study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research found that chronic stress was often the reason for inflammation in the body. In the end, chronic stress was reported to lead to a variety of health problems, such as heart disease and depression.
How to overcome stress to save a relationship?
If stress is so dangerous for a relationship yet inevitable in our lives, are there any things that couples can do to save their relationship? Yes, and learning to manage stress is the prerequisite for having a long-term and healthy relationship. Below we suggest some helpful tips for couples who want to overcome stress and strengthen their relationship:
- Learn to communicate openly. Being open and honest is important in managing stress, supporting each other, and keeping a strong relationship. You should be ready to share your feelings with your partner and openly express your needs and doubts. Open communication also implies learning to listen and understand another person.
- Learn to care about yourself. Though self-care may seem like egoistic advice when we speak about helping your partner to manage stress, in reality, it is a powerful tool to support a relationship. When you take time to care about yourself, you feel more relaxed and have enough energy to support your partner. If you feel out of energy, try practicing exercises, meditation, or reading.
- Take time for physical intimacy. Physical intimacy is important in any healthy relationship. It helps us produce more oxytocin (read about it in our previous article) and relieve stress. However busy you are, regularly hug and kiss your partner.
- Develop healthy coping strategies. Healthy coping strategies include all the positive ways of getting rid of your stress, including exercise, meditation, and deep breathing. Avoid negative habits, such as alcohol or drug use. They never help, instead, in the long run, they make everything worse.
- Find a professional to help you. If stress causes significant problems in your relationship, if you are thinking about divorce, try going to a professional psychologist before it gets too late. The task of a therapist is not to solve your problem instead of you, but to give you effective communication and coping strategies that you can use in your daily life.
- Allocate some time for fun and leisure. Funny and enjoyable activities together are required to reduce the level of stress. Pleasure and happiness reduce your anxiety and help you strengthen your bonds with other people. If you feel bored, try new hobbies or activities together with your partner. Spend time together by doing things you both enjoy.
Managing stress is an ongoing process that requires commitment and effort from both partners. Try these strategies and learn to be more loyal and less critical of each other. In the end, this is the only way to maintain a strong and long-lasting relationship.