Listen to your wife to lower heart attack risk

Do find time to talk to your wife even if you come tired from office and want to hit the sack - for a better heart health.

According to new research, positive interactions with your partner can lower the risk of heart attack or stroke for you.

"More negative interactions between partners were linked to having thicker carotid arteries - the blood vessels that carry blood through the neck to the brain," Nataria Joseph from VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in California was quoted as saying.

Thicker carotids are linked with increased risk of cardiovascular problems.

In the study, researchers found that people who reported few positive interactions with their partners had an 8.5 percent higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the future.

For the study, researchers analysed 281 middle-age adults who were married or living with partners in marriage-like relationships.

They found that interactions may be closely tied to emotions, health behaviours and physiology, all of which have effects on health.

"The study, however, shows a correlation but not a cause-and-effect relationship between interactions and thicker carotid arteries," Joseph said in a Live Science report.