Divorce is regarded as one of the most stressful times in life and a new study has revealed the extent to which divorce has adverse effects on womens’ health, particularly the heart.
Unfortunately there are times when divorce is unavoidable and often essential to being able to move on and get on with life. That freedom from a marriage that isn’t working does come at a price for some of the people.
The affects of divorce on men are well documented. Depression, suicide and early death are often seen as a consequence of divorce but for women there is a greater risk of suffering a heart attack.
A study by Duke University in North Carolina found that women have a 24% higher chance of suffering a heart attack than those women not going through a divorce. If a woman goes through a second divorce, then the risk of a heart attack increases the risk to 77%.
A new marital partner does little to decrease the risk with the same study finding that the risk is actually higher at 33% than the average for women going through divorce.
Study author Dr Matthew Dupre, associate professor of medicine at Duke University in North Carolina, US said “Divorce is a major stressor, and we have long known that people who are divorced suffer more health consequences.