One of the biggest stressors in a woman’s life is a bumpy marriage — the worse the marriage, the higher the stress level.

According to a study carried out by researchers, a happy marriage cuts stress for working women as they have lower levels of the stress hormone than those in miserable relationships, the Daily Mail reported here on Wednesday. However, it does not make any difference in case of their husbands as men’s stress levels are determined mainly by how busy they are at work, not the state of their home life.

According to lead researcher Darby Saxbe of University of California, “As far as women are concerned, being happily married appears to bolster physiological recovery from work.

“Women in unhappy marriages are coming home from a busy day and, instead of having some time to relax and have a spouse picking up the load of setting the table, getting dinner going, signing forms for the kids, these women may have immediately to launch back into another stressful routine.

“Perhaps in happily married couples, the demands of domestic life are being shared more equitably between men and women, or at least that may be the case when wives return home from a demanding day at work.”

The researchers came to the conclusion after analysing a data of 60 married parents who were asked how satisfied they were with their marriage and how busy they were at work