There is one character trait that the Nairobi man hates in a woman – nagging. But findings of an interesting new study however suggest that the Nairobi man may be backing up the wrong tree.

According to scientific research by sociologists from Michigan State University in the US, a nagging wife is good for a man’s health.

This quashes that popular belief that marriage, because of the stresses that come with it, is detrimental to a man’s health.

For the study, the researchers looked into the lives of 1218 married study subjects over a period of five years. All the study subjects were between the ages of 57 and 85 at the beginning of the study.

The aim of the study was to look into the effect of marital quality on the risk and management of diabetes.

Men in unhappy marriages were found to be less likely to develop diabetes than men in happy marriages. When the former group of men developed diabetes, they were found to be able to manage it better.

STRESS LEVELS

Unfortunately though, while nagging may make a man keener on taking his diabetes medication, the researchers found that it increases the strain of a marriage. This nagging environment was also found to increase a man’s stress levels over time.

For women however, being in a happy marriage lowered their chances of developing diabetes. A nagging husband on the other had heightened their chances of developing diabetes.

The researchers argue that nagging wives are also likely to pester their husbands in regard to their health. She will nag you to eat better, to exercise and if you are unwell, to take your medication.

Women on the other hand were found to be more sensitive to the quality of a relationship and thus more likely to be affected healthwise when a relationship goes sideways.

If these findings, which have been published in the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, are anything to go by, then it is safe to conclude that nagging is caring.