The Good Life – March-April 2020

MEN'S HEALTH
Rx for A Healthy Relationship
(Relax, It’s Not Complicated)
Maintaining healthy relationships
is important not just for our mental
and spiritual health, but also
for our physical health.
WRITTEN BY: BEN HANSON
Now that Valentine's Day has come and gone, we thought
it'd be a good time to talk about relationships. Sure, you
might be wondering why such valuable advice wasn't doled
out prior to the "most romantic day of the year," and that's
an entirely fair question. Well, guess what? The ol' editorial
calendar can be as perplexing a game as love, so maybe just
be happy with what you get when you get it. Get it?
The truth is it doesn't much matter what time of year it is. All
of us — men and women — could stand to spend a bit more
time thinking, contemplating and acting on the things that
make our relationships thrive, all the while trying to dodge
and weave the inevitable challenges that inevitably spring
up… often with little notice (although, if you never see it
coming, the odds of "it" being your fault are embarrassingly
high).
Maintaining healthy relationships is important not just for
our mental and spiritual health, but also for our physical
health. If you're suffering in a bad relationship, you're quite
literally suffering, and that suffering can manifest itself in
a variety of ways: stress, unhealthy eating and drinking
habits, increased risk for serious health conditions like high
blood pressure, high cholesterol and even heart disease.
The relative health of your romantic relationship in many
ways can be an insightful window into your overall health
and well-being.
Now's probably a good time to clearly state that I am not
a relationship expert, and this piece is in no way intended
to replace a good hour or two on a therapist's couch. In
fact, that bit about avoiding challenges… though it sounds
right… couldn't be more wrong. Let's bring in the doc to help
explain why.
Communication Above All Else
"Mastering communication is huge. It's probably the single
most important indicator of a healthy relationship," says Dr.
Forrest Sauer, founder of Twin Oaks Health Solutions in
Fargo. "If you're in the habit of avoiding conflict, burying
your feelings and not addressing the problem as soon as
it becomes apparent, you're relationship is going to suffer
and never reach its full potential. It's hard to master
communication because it requires so much vulnerability,
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