Stress in relationships with family, friends and significant others may lead to an earlier death says a new Danish study.
This study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The researchers found that men and people that are unemployed are most vulnerable to this, according to Reuters.
Rikke Lund and her colleagues acknowledged that there are health-protecting aspects of social relationships, however, no one has ever studied the stressful aspects of relationships.
The study, conducted in Denmark, took a look at a group of 9,870 people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Their health was tracked from 2000 to 2011.
The researchers measured the stress by asking two questions. One question being who caused worry or stress in their lives; And two being questions about emotional support and signs of depression.
The study found that one in every ten people said that their partner or their children were constantly (or very often) demanding and made them stress.
Six percent of those studied said that their was always conflict with other members of their family and two percent said that they constantly had conflict with friends.
According to Health24 these frequent conflicts were tied to a 50 percent increase in risk of dying.
During the study four percent of women and six percent of the men died. Around half of the deaths were because of cancer. Other deaths included cardiovascular and liver disease, accidents and suicide.
"We know that social isolation is bad for us as well," said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychology researcher. "They're probably both bad and that's why it might be important to foster the positive aspects rather than just focusing on cutting people out of your life."