9 Things That Happen To Your Body When You Fight

A study done at the at the University of California Berkeley showed that spouses who seethed in anger during fights were more likely to report symptoms of cardiac problems and chest pain after their fights. Dr. Robert Levenson, an oncologist and the senior author of the study, told The New York Times that anger can raise pulse rates and can cause other biological reactions that can stress the heart over time.

In the same study, Levenson and his colleagues found that those who stonewalled rather than seething were more prone to back pain and other muscular problems, due to the build up of stress in their muscles during fighting.

The American Psychological Association reported that sudden onsets of stress can cause your muscles to tense up all at once, bringing you neck pain that can alternatively cause chronic tension and tension-headaches. If you find yourself fighting often, it can cause chronic stress which can cause your muscles to be in a state of constant guardedness, and constant tension.

According to Mic, when you become angry at your partner, stress and muscle tension in your upper body can result in clenching your teeth. And as the American Academy of Oral Medicine noted, consistent teeth clenching can result in visible wear on your teeth over time.

When you fight, your cardiovascular system has an immediate response to stress. According to the American Psychological Association, acute and short-term stress, causes an increase in heart rate and stronger contractions of the heart muscle. Once the acute stress passes, your body will return to its normal state. But if you find yourself fighting often, with constant stress, it may lead to long term heart problems down the road.

In addition to the elevated heart rate, the blood vessels that direct blood to your muscles and heart increase their work too. Because of this, your blood pressure experiences a spike whenever you fight. In a study published by the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, researchers found direct correlation between subjects in happy marriages, those with more manageable blood pressure. Alternatively, the researchers found that negative discussions (i.e., fighting) evoked larger increases in systolic blood pressure.

It's too easy when you're in the throes of a fight to raise your voice and resort to yelling. Though the occasional crescendo of sparring with your partner won't do much long term damage on your voice, if you're constantly fighting with your partner, it could become a problem. Overuse and abuse of your vocal chords can cause the formation of nodules in your throat that may need to be removed surgically, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Though you may think stress can run you down (and you're right about that), a tiny bit of stress can actually boost your immune system, according to a Stanford study. It was noted that, "short-term stress — the fight-or-flight response, a mobilization of bodily resources lasting minutes or hours in response to immediate threats — stimulates immune activity." On the other hand, the study noted that too much stress over a long period of time can take a toll on your immune system, causing it to crash. If you're in a long-term rough patch with your partner, or a friend, or a family member, you may be more susceptible to sickness because of the state of your immune system.

Your stomach is a sensitive organ, especially when it comes to how it's affected by your moods. When you're stressed, your stomach is one of the first things to feel the effects. Sharp pains, poor digestion, constipation, diarrhea, and nausea, can all be symptoms you may experience when you're fighting, according to the American Psychological Association. So the next time you feel nauseous during a fight? You're not overreacting, it's simply one of the ways your body reacts to stress.