Have You Heard Of The Partner Effect? Study Says It Could Make Or Break Your Health

If you've ever felt like your partner's health impacted yours, you probably weren't imagining things. Especially if you live together, couples share many of the same foods, lifestyles, and habits that can all impact health outcomes—including blood pressure.

For this study, researchers wanted to find out whether married couples saw similar health outcomes when it came to blood pressure, looking at couples from four different countries.

Namely, they analyzed the blood pressure of 3,989 U.S. couples, 1,086 English couples, 6,514 Chinese couples, and 22,389 Indian couples. (Note: All the couples were heterosexual.)

And based on what they found, the "partner effect" is very much real; When one partner had high blood pressure, the other was more likely to have it, too.

In some instances, both partners had high blood pressure—47% in England, 38% in the U.S., 21% in China, and 20% in India. And compared to women with husbands who didn't have high blood pressure, women whose husbands did have high blood pressure were more likely to have it. (9% more likely in England and the U.S., and 19% and 26% more likely in India and China, respectively.)

According to Li, these findings not only demonstrate how we can unwittingly influence our partner's health—and vice versa—but highlight the importance of couple-centered approaches to combatting high blood pressure (i.e. getting screened together or eating healthier meals together).

"Following this idea," adds associate professor and epidemiology expert Bethany Barone Gibbs, Ph.D., "making lifestyle changes, such as being more active, reducing stress, or eating a healthier diet, can all reduce blood pressure; however, these changes may be difficult to achieve and, more importantly, sustain if your spouse or partner (and greater family unit) are not making changes with you."

So whether you're trying to lower your blood pressure, or your partner is trying to lower theirs, you might want to join forces and tackle your health goals as a team.