Silence may be golden, but it’s not good for cardiovascular health. That’s the takeaway from a new study that links inhibited self-expression with greater carotid plaque buildup, researchers say.
Prior studies have linked chronic self-silencing – a strategy sometimes used to maintain relationships, for example – to poor mental and self-reported physical health in older women. For this investigation, University of Pittsburgh researchers examined the effect of this behavior on plaque buildup in the arteries that supply blood to the brain.
Participants included 304 perimenopausal and postmenopausal nonsmoking women. Greater self-silencing was found to be linked to increased odds of arterial plaque buildup independent of socio-demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, and depression. Results were based on measurements of self-reported behavioral factors such as how often anger was expressed. Ultrasound imaging was used to quantify carotid plaque.
“Given increased public health interest in women’s experiences in intimate relationships, our results suggest that women’s socio-emotional expression may be relevant to their cardiovascular health,” reported the study’s lead author, Karen Jakubowski, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh.
