Many of us are in a regular battle with ourselves over keeping the junk food enjoyment ‘moderate’, but it’s doubly challenging when your partner is also engaged in the same self-warfare.
Even the toughest resolve might crumble at the sound of one’s better half suggesting, ‘Shall we just get a Maccies?’
It turns out there’s more consider here than waistlines and looming heart problems, however.
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A study from researchers across German, Swiss and Canadian universities found that eating junk food with your partner can have some strange side effects.
The research examined how couples’ lifestyles change or reinforce themselves through shared behaviours, and eating junk food came up as an example of a shared experience that can make couples feel closer.
However, that effect is only for the short-term, and relying on these actions for a sense of closeness may be self-defeating.
Nick Sharp, a clinical psychologist and counsellor, told Delish that these kinds of effects are rooted in a deep human desire for connection. "I see this as highlighting a common human truth: shared experience builds connection, but the quality of that experience matters greatly for long-term relationships and individual health,” he said.
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Sharp continued: “Essentially, couples are combining two powerful neurochemical responses: dopamine from instant gratification, and oxytocin from relational bonding.
“It feels good, but it’s dependent on the activity.”
In other words, that dopamine high only lasts for so long, and ‘if we repeatedly associate closeness with passive or harmful behaviours, we risk building fragile connections based on short-term rewards, potentially compromising both relational and physical health’. Yikes!
So, you and your loved one might feel like partners in crime when you agree that you’ll both skip the gym, you’ll both have a pizza, or you’ll both have the occasional cigarette, but this kind of bonding may feel good in the moment without having a long-term effect on your relationship’s solidity.
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The study also noted that some couples may use these kinds of shared negative behaviours to avoid conflict or cut tension.
How many of us have stormed out of the house mid-argument only to come home with a Tangfastics-shaped olive branch?
So, what’s the upshot here? By all means, enjoy being a little gremlin with your partner now and then, but just make sure that shared vices aren’t becoming the foundation of your relationship.
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If you want love that lasts forever, why not share a whole head of lettuce between you this weekend? Or… something like that.
Rachael Davis