Lighting up and being a couch potato could improve the health of your relationship — but it comes with a cost.
A recent study found that partaking in harmful behaviors with a romantic partner improves your relationship but ruins your health.
The study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin focused on couples who smoked, laid around and ate junk food.
Researchers from the University of Zurich analyzed journal entries noting how the participants described experiences, behaviors, and social interactions on a day-to-day basis.
They found that those who engaged in shared problematic behaviors with their partner, including smoking and sedentary behavior correlated with enhanced closeness and relationship satisfaction on a daily level.
However, they did not find an increase in closeness or relationship satisfaction when couples jointly consumed unhealthy foods.
The experts noted that while these behaviors are commonly known to have detrimental and even deadly effects in the long term, participating in shared problematic behaviors had positive effects on relationships in the short term.
“It is possible that the willingness to put up with long-term health or well-being risk when engaged in shared problematic behavior… may make ‘indulging together’ a unique experience that brings partners closer,” the researchers wrote.
They believe that these behaviors help to reduce conflict, increase closeness, and support relationship cohesion when the problematic behavior is done together and reflects the same behavior.
On days when couples engage in more shared problematic behaviors, they also reported higher relationship satisfaction overall.
Engaging in recreational activities as a couple is proven to strengthen and stabilize the relationship, in part because it allows partners to share positive emotions.
Participating in problematic behavior together may be linked to the belief that these specific types of behaviors are often viewed as “indulgent”, “risky” or “arousing”.
These activities are also often used to relieve stress or reduce negative emotions.
In the end, the researchers concluded that couples were willing to engage in unhealthy behaviors “because they want to improve their partner’s well-being;”.
Smoking and laying around on the couch all day aren’t the only problematic behaviors that can benefit your relationship. Another study found that lying to your partner is good for your relationship– in certain scenarios.
Researchers found that making secret purchases can actually strengthen relationships as insignificant but secret purchases make people feel a little guilty, leading them to spend more time with their partner to make up for their secret spending.
So if you wanna splurge on a little treat, you might want to keep it to yourself. But if you want to have a smoke or be a couch potato, invite your loved one and indulge in your unhealthy habits together.