Have an argument. State your case. Make your point. Stand your ground.

Above all, be heard.

Then kiss and make up.

Repeat as needed.

You'll be healthier.

The suggestion is neither from the script of a lost "Seinfeld" episode nor the latest in New Age exercise.

It's science.

Specifically, science from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. That's where Dr. Ernest Harburg and a team of researchers studied 192 married Michigan couples in their 40s and 50s over 17 years.

What they found was death rates in couples where both the husband and wife suppressed their anger were higher than in couples where both or one of the pair expressed their resentment.

Among the 192 couples, 26 pairs held in their anger, choosing to brood or pout or seek revenge in nonconfrontational ways. Thirteen deaths, or 25 percent, occurred in that group.

Only 41 deaths, or 12 percent, occurred among the remaining 166 couples, where husband or wife or both expressed their anger, joining the argument.

The study looked at heart problems and other mortality factors and adjusted for participants' ages, smoking habits, weight, blood pressure, lung problems and cardiovascular issues.

Still, the health benefits were clear: Let 'er rip.

But excuse the contradiction be reasonable. Logic and anger are strange bedfellows, and Harburg's work was specific to those instances where one partner or both felt unfairly attacked, where they chose whether to protest unfair treatment.

Stench of abuse

Before you pick a fight with your lovey to save the marriage and your life, consider please that despite the health and open communication claims of a good marital spat, the scourge of abuse in some families and marriages is very real and very deadly.

Studies have found that women especially suffer health problems when they choose to remain quiet, to "stuff" their feelings of anger rather than argue. Some researchers believe this trait, called "self-silencing," is a survival technique in homes where the stench of abuse and violence hangs heavy.

The quiet of clamming up equates to heart and other health problems for women, however, including a death rate up to four times greater than among women who don't keep their feelings bottled up. That's according to a 10-year study of 4,000 men and women in Framingham, Mass., published in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2007.

According to the research, men have far fewer health issues when they choose self-silence.

In fact, the study concluded that marriage is generally good for men's health when compared to their single brethren.

Problems apparently are transferable, too. In the Framingham study, men with wives who bring home stress from work were nearly three times more likely to die from heart problems than those men married to women in less stressful circumstances.

Consensus, courtesy

If you're thinking balance and communication are the key, you're two-thirds of the way there.

The other part is consensus, according to Harburg.

"The rules of consensus are the rules of courtesy," he said in a podcast from the University of Michigan. He maintains that arguing and not stuffing is healthy because each partner can air grievances without interruption and then work toward consensus in solving the problem.

We all know conflict in any relationship is inevitable. And only the most naive among us would dispute that solving it takes work, time and practice.

Now, according to this research, we find out we risk both our marriage and our health.

But wait: Having balance, communication and consensus in the first place may not only resolve conflict, but also may head it off before it begins.

That would leave everybody healthier and more time for long walks.