Everyone says they are good at keeping a secret – but only because they want to hear the gossip.
And what happens? Within two days of one person knowing about the hottest office romance, or who spilled that wine all over the carpet, everyone knows the truth.
But a new study that sheds light on how it feels to know someone's most intimate secrets might justify the need to divulge the information so quickly.
For those who harbour such undisclosed truths end up finding everyday tasks far more strenuous.
According to research conducted at Tufts University, the emotional burden of a secret actually takes a physical toll on its carrier.
The researchers were curious to see if there existed a relationship between metaphor and reality.
“Language used to describe secrets, such as “being weighed down” or “being burdened,” suggests that carrying a secret is conceptualised metaphorically as a physical burden,” it read.
“If so, sensorimotor states associated with physical burdens could be activated or simulated when carrying a secret.
“We examined whether secrets would thus be experienced as physical burdens, influencing how people perceive and act in the world.”
Everyday Health broke down the study, explaining that some participants were asked to remember a life-altering secret and others a small, slightly less significant, personal secret.
Both groups were then invited to estimate how steep a hill was or how far a distance seemed.
The findings revealed that those with the meaningful secret saw the hill and distance as higher and further respectively, thus suggesting that the weight of the secret manifested itself physically.
Likewise, a group of candidates who were keeping the uncomfortable knowledge of their infidelity under wraps, were more likely to perceive tasks like carrying groceries upstairs or walking the dog as requiring more of an effort.
The study concluded, “The more burdensome the secret and the more thought devoted to it, the more perception and action were influenced in a manner similar to carrying physical weight.
“Thus, as with physical burdens, secrets weigh people down.”
The report comes hot off the heals of skincare brand Simple's survey in which some women confessed to having to share a secret within only 32 minutes of hearing it.
–Daily Mail, London