During a conversation with your spouse, when your heart rate rises over 100
beats per minute, you are no longer reasonable. After decades of
experiments with couples, this is one of the conclusions of John Gottman, a researcher at the University of Washington.
I'm
sure you've already discovered that the more upset you are, the less
reasonable you are. That is, you hold onto your position more firmly and
more rigidly, and you are less open to information or other points of
view. Your position becomes more and more absolute and one-sided the
more upset you get.
But 100 beats per minute is not
very high. I invite you to check your heart rate during the next
argument with your spouse. I have done this and was surprised to
discover that when I felt only a little upset my heart rate was 120 beats per minute!
Now
of course if you continue trying to "discuss matters" with your spouse
while being unreasonable, it is very difficult to resolve anything. An escalation of the anger is a more likely result, leading to hurt feelings, a drop in affection, and so on.
That's where meditation can really make a difference. Experiments
have shown that people who meditate regularly don't get as upset during
arguments and get over it more quickly. Specifically, their heart rate
doesn't rise as high and returns to normal more quickly. That means they
don't spend as much time in the "unreasonable zone."
That
means during disagreements with their spouses, they would spend less
time saying things they'll regret later and there will be less hard
feelings between them. And that is good for their marriage and good for
their mood.
You don't have to meditate very long to see
a change. If you're interested in trying the experiment yourself,
here's how to meditate: The Physical and Psychological Benefits of Mantra Meditation.
Adam Khan is the author of Slotralogy and co-author with Klassy Evans of What Difference Does It Make?: How the Sexes Differ and What You Can Do About It. Follow his podcast, The Adam Bomb.
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