Monday, May 24, 2010

Men, Women and Relaxation

Here is another nugget from that UCLA family study I described in my last post, which included regular measurements of cortisol levels in all the participants:
These cortisol profiles provided biological backing for a familiar frustration in many marriages. The more that women engaged with their husbands in the evening, talking about the day, the faster their cortisol dropped. But the men’s levels tapered more slowly when talking with a spouse.

3 comments:

  1. I take it that women are frustrated because, during evening conversation, men remain in work stress mode longer than women. It would be interesting to see how television watching or something similar affects this. I find nothing improves my mood in a post-stressful work evening like an episode of NCIS. Mowing the lawn or something similar also works.

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  2. I think the point is that men unwind most readily alone, women through conversation.

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  3. Conversation is good, but weeding the garden is better. Sadly, it's not a year round solution

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