The better a woman's love life, the less stress she feels at work. For men, it's not as simple. A new study out of Sweden revealed that men who say they're in good or bad relationships have less stress at work than those in "average" relationships.
The woman behind the study explains what she learned about men:
"When we talked to the men, they said that when it's in-between, you have to put more effort into it. You keep doing that until the relationship either becomes better or hopeless. When you get to that point, it doesn't really affect your health anymore."
It sounds like an effortless relationship is ideal for male anxiety levels: either it's so good, they don't have to do anything, or it's so bad, they don't care enough to do anything. As long as they don't have to give the relationship too much attention, they're feeling better.
Do you define an "average" relationship as one that requires effort? What do you think this study reveals about some men?
Burberry
Catherine Malandrino
Ruco Line
Haha! I totally LOLed reading this.
One, this is in Sweden. Their work situation and culture and the way they look at relationships I am pretty sure [because I've never been to Sweden, correct me if I'm wrong] can be very different than the way people in other countries [like the US] view them. As such, it's not fair to generalize these results to ALL men.
Secondly, I think what should be "implied" about some men is that a manageable/less stressful relationship is one where they don't have to "work" so hard. I agree somewhat [and yes, I'm female!] - nobody wants to be in limbo about where the relationship is headed. THAT'S STRESSFUL. If it's good, then men can be secure about it being good; if the relationship is bad, then hey, they can move on and stop losing sleep over it. I think more women actually think this way too.
Lastly, everyone is going to have their own definition of what an "average" relationship is. For some, an average relationship is a "sometimes good, sometimes bad"; for others, it's a "pretty good". I think the "average" relationships in this study tended to fall in the "sometimes good, sometimes bad" category. No wonder.
1It's a very lazy approach. Because eventually any good relationship is going to take some work. The term "average" here can prove to be extremely dynamic. What criteria is used to define "average?" Average from a man's point of view may be different than a female's, etc.
2haha I found this hilarious! So mendo not want to work at a relationship? Not all relationships are perfect, in fact, most have to work at it everyday. Just because you are happy or in the middle doesnt mean that you still do not have to work at it. It CAN be work making a person happy, how do men not understand that?
3I am not sure if this is what all men think but men from sweden are ridiculous then. Because every relationship you have to work at! Regardless if you are happy, in the middle or unhappy. Couples are not happy for no reason. I think this post was pretty humorous.
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