HEART WOES
It seems a bad marriage really can break your heart.
As reported by The Washington Post, a new study makes the claim that people stuck in unhappy marital unions are at higher risk for heart disease.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study conducted at Michigan State University was one of the first of its kind to draw a connection between marriage quality and heart health over an extended period of time.
"Married people seem healthier because marriage may promote health," said sociologist and lead study investigator Hui Liu. "But it's not that every marriage is better than none. The quality of marriage is really important."
In order to arrive at that conclusion, Liu and researchers focused on five years of clinical data taken from 1,200 adults in their late-50s to -80s to determine their heart health as evinced by a range of factors including incidences of heart attacks and strokes and measurements of cholesterol levels.
Those findings on heart health were then compared to feedback from those same adults about how they felt about their marriage.
In followup sessions, researchers queried the wives and husbands (who were not married to each other, of course) on how close they felt to their current mate, how demanding they felt their spouses were and how happy they thought their marriages were.
Liu stressed that both good and bad marital qualities were taken into consideration in the study, since "some people really love each other and have a lot of happiness, but at other times they may have a lot of arguments."
But as it turned out, the bad marital vibes outweighed the good.
The research team concluded that being in an unhappy marriage caused stress, which in turn can be harmful to cardiovascular health – and the negative impact was even more pronounced in women and older adults over the long haul.
"It's not like you have contact with your spouse and the next day you have heart disease," said Liu. "It really takes time. That may explain why it's stronger for older people. Your body will remember the effect."
As to why females felt the effects of a bad marriage more, Liu said women are more inclined to internalize feelings and be more sensitive than their male partners in a relationship.
As well, the study indicated that when women were stricken with heart disease, it actually lowered the quality of a marriage, but not so when men were sick.
In an upcoming study, Liu and her research team plan to explore the impact of marriage quality as it relates to diabetes.
Meanwhile, any newlyweds looking to have a long and happy life together might want to consider the example of Clem and Millie Mintz of Parry Sound, Ont., who recently celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary and have been officially recognized as having the longest-lasting marriage in Canada.
A key factor in their long-lasting marriage, according to their grandson Randy Higgins: "They were both good-looking people with good family values."
STAR POWER
Penelope Cruz will take a lead role in the upcoming feature Zoolander 2. The Spanish actress has inked a contract to star opposite Ben Stiller in the sequel to the 2001 comedy. Stiller will also direct the sequel while returning to his role of slow-witted supermodel Derek Zoolander. So far there's no confirmation on whether Will Ferrell and Owen Wilson will reprise their respective roles of Mugatu and Hansel from the original film.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
OBVIOUS MALES
Talk about obvious males: A new study has confirmed men find women in high heels more attractive than females wearing flat shoes. The study from the University of Bretagne in France employed women to approach male strangers and ask for assistance. During the experiment, the women switched from flat shoes to two-inch heels and then again to 3.5-inch heels. While wearing the highest heels, women received help from 83 per cent of the men approached; while wearing the flat shoes, women received help from 47 per cent of the men.
Source: New York Magazine
MEA CULPA
Author Daniel Handler has apologized for his alleged racist comments at this week's National Book Awards. During the ceremony in Manhattan on Wednesday night, Handler, who also goes by the pen name of "Lemony Snicket," was onstage while congratulating African-American author Jacqueline Woodson for winning the Young People's Literature award for her book Brown Girl Dreaming. Handler told the audience: "I said that if she won, I would tell all of you something I learned about her this summer, which is that Jacqueline Woodson is allergic to watermelon. Just let that sink into your mind." The next day, Handler issued a mea culpa via a tweet stating, "My job at last night's National Book Awards was to shine a light on tremendous writers, including Jacqueline Woodson and not to overshadow their achievements with my own ill-conceived attempts at humour. I clearly failed and I'm sorry."
Source: CTV News
CHEAP SHOTS
Is the Gwyneth Paltrow/Martha Stewart feud on again? Earlier this week, Paltrow's website Goop.com featured a recipe for a dessert called "Jailbird Cake," which was comprised of chocolate wafers and whipped cream. To many people, the title seemed to refer to Stewart's 2004 stint behind bars for insider trading and came three weeks after a photo spread in Martha Stewart Living magazine titled "Conscious Coupling" (in reference to Paltrow's now-famous essay announcing her split from husband Chris Martin). In September, Stewart said of Paltrow, "She just needs to be quiet. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn't be trying to be Martha Stewart."
Source: People