Trivial texts from partner ‘ease women’s office stress’

SWAPPING texts about the weather and what’s for dinner is the key to surviving office stress, scientists claim.

Women receiving mundane messages from their partners are better able to cope with high-pressure situations, a new study has found.

The distraction of trivial text chats with a husband or boyfriend helps keep blood pressure in check, California University psychologists discovered.

For their experiment, they recruited 75 couples, separating the men from the women and keeping them in different rooms.

The women were fitted with a blood pressure-measuring cuff and asked to prepare for a public speaking assignment and maths test to generate stress.

As they worked, some received supportive texts from their partners. Others were sent neutral messages. The rest got none. Those receiving mundane messages felt less extra stress.

The study, in the journal Computers In Human Behaviour, concluded: ‘This may suggest that the mundane texts provided a distraction from the stressor [while] supportive messages indicated that the partner was aware of the stressful task.’

Lead author Dr Emily Hooker added: ‘Text messaging is an integral part of the daily lives of millions and it is critical that we continue research into the effects of texting.’