Could a conversation with your best friend, a quiet afternoon with your journal, even letting it all hang out on your new blog, turbocharge your health? A new discovery says yes, if you take a deep breath and spill a deep secret.

When you stay mum about a difficult, embarrassing or downright traumatic episode from the past, it can weigh you down emotionally and interfere with healthy habits like taking a daily half-hour walk, saying “No, thanks” to a helping of mac and cheese or even making connections with the people you love (or just like!).