One might want to consider adding some sweetness to a marriage to help with heart problems. A new study – conducted over the past 16 years – found that people in marriages that get slowly sweeter have lower cholesterol and healthier weights than those in marriages that stayed the same.

Though having the same pleasantness throughout a relationship definitely were better than marriages where it got worse, those couples were more likely to have high blood pressure later in life.

The study, published in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, measured the ups and downs of marriage to see if it correlated with heart health. Researchers analyzed data from parents and children in Britain and compared it to surveys from fathers about their quality of the marriage when their kids were age three and again at age nine.

Over 2,000 people completed the survey at the start of the study and again six years later. After a decade from the study’s start, 620 completed a follow-up analysis. The men had their blood pressure, resting heart rate, body mass index (BMI), and cholesterol and fasting glucose levels measured, all of which can indicate heart-disease risk factors.

While there were no differences in cardiovascular risk profiles between men in consistently good or bad relationships, researchers found distinct patterns for men in relationships that either improved or got worse during that time.

Men who reported to be in better relationships had lower low-density lipoprotein or “bad” cholesterol and healthier weights when compared to those in consistently good relationships.

Those in bad relationships were reported to have an average of 2.74 points higher blood pressure than those in consistently good marriages.

Researchers have said it is hard to tell if those in steadily-happy relationships are well-off or merely accustomed to their stance on marriage. It was also found that those with better marriages had fewer health or financial problems.

Now, researchers are trying to discover if there are ways to help those in bad relationships with poor health. “Further research needs to determine if effective marriage counseling, or when appropriate, abandoning a deteriorating relationship, has long-term physical health benefits over and above psychological well-being,” one analyzer wrote according to TIME.