Recent study revealed that martial tensions affect health of women more as compared to men. Study showed that a stressed relationship not only impacted the mental health of women but also raised levels of high blood pressure, obesity, and cholesterol – all symptoms that add up to "metabolic syndrome" that can lead to heart disease.

Research team led by Nancy Henry, a doctoral candidate in clinical healthy psychology at the University of Utah analyzed data collected from 276 couples, median age 54, by questionnaires. Data analysis revealed that about 20 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women in the study had metabolic syndrome.

Henry said that the men were as likely as the women to become depressed with marital strain, but the link between negativity, depression and metabolic syndrome only applied to women, she said. The depression in women accounted for the metabolic syndrome.

Debra Umberson, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin said: "The study raises the importance of increasing our understanding of how depression influences biological processes that result in metabolic syndrome -- and why these processes might be stronger for women than men."