( on their arms. The skin was removed fr...)Stress substantially slows human body's ability to heal

The husbands and wives also completed questionnaires intended to gauge their level of stress at the beginning of the experiment. Lastly, each person was fitted with a catheter through which blood could be drawn for later analysis.

During the first visit, Kiecolt-Glaser said, each spouse was asked to talk for several minutes about some characteristic or behavior which he or she would like to change. This was a supportive, positive discussion.

"But during the second visit, we asked them to talk about an area of disagreement," she said, "something that inherently had an emotional element."

Both discussions were videotaped and those tapes were used to gauge the level of hostility present between the couples. Fluid accumulating at the individual wound sites and peripheral blood samples were also taken from each participant.

When the researchers analyzed the data, the results showed the following:

Wounds took a day longer to heal after the arguments than they did after the initial supportive discussion;

Couples who showed high levels of hostility needed two days longer for wound-healing, compared to couples whose hostility appeared low.

"Wounds on the hostile couples healed at only 60 percent of the rate of couples considered to have low levels of hostility," Kiecolt-Glaser said.

Blood samples from those highly hostile couples showed differences as well. The levels of one cytokine ?interleukin-6 (IL-6) ?increased one-and-a-half times over those in couples considered less hostile.

Cytokines are key elements in the human immune system. They hold a delicate balance in maintaining the right immune response. Increased levels of IL-6 at the site of a wound stimulate the hea
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Source:Ohio State University