If you have a habit of keeping a lot of secrets from your spouse, maybe it’s time to rethink that. Not only can it cause problems within your relationship, but a new study has found that keeping secrets has a negative effect on your health as well.
Keeping secrets have harmful effects on our well-being
According to the authors of the study, people who keep secrets have a habit of revisiting their past mistakes, such as when they made up an excuse to get off work, or to put off plans with their significant other. This in turn leads to a lower sense of well-being, as well as being unhappy. Additionally, it also makes them feel like they are hiding a part of themselves, which can cause a cycle that hurts and destroys relationships, and can even impact their health.
Malia Mason, co-author of the study, shares, “Secrets exert a gravitational pull on our attention, it’s the cyclical revisiting of our mistakes that explains the harmful effects that secrets can have on our well-being.”
“Along with a diminished sense of well-being and physical health consequences, keeping secrets can also shift a person’s focus from the task at hand to their secrets, which clearly can have a detrimental effect on task performance,” Mason adds.
Secrets also induce stress, and stress can lead to a weaker immune system, increased blood pressure, and a whole host of ailments.
Avoid keeping secrets, especially from your spouse
Keeping secrets is literally unhealthy, and can cause a lot of problems and strain in your relationship. Which is why you should always choose to be honest and tell the truth, instead of hiding things by lying.
Relationships are built on trust, and breaking that trust can have disastrous consequences.
Additionally, if you start keeping small secrets from your spouse, it’ll eventually grow into bigger secrets, and then you’ll find yourself hiding more and more secrets from your spouse, which is a slippery slope that you don’t want to fall down.
At the end of the day, honesty and communication should be at the core of your relationship. Be honest, and avoid hiding secrets, and your relationship will be better off.
Sources: foxnews.com, www8.gsb.columbia.edu
READ: 5 Secrets you can keep from your spouse
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