Marriage and health are co-related to each other in the same way hard work and success are related to each other. One leads to another. A healthy marriage leads to a healthy life. Marital discord, on the other hand, leads to a poor quality of life and poor mental and physical health.
Why take our word for it?
You don’t have to.
There have been actual studies which have proved the fact that marriage is indeed linked to better health.
Let us talk about the first ever study conducted about whether marriage improved health.
William Farr’s study
In the year 1858, A British gentleman named William Farr conducted a test to see whether marriage was linked to good health. He chose to conduct this study in France and what he found was pretty astounding. For the purpose of carrying out the study, he divided the population into the following categories:
- Married
- Widowed
- Single or Celibate
As a part of the study, William Farr studied the average mortality rate of the people in the three groups. After studying various marriage, birth and death records, he came to the conclusion that people who were unmarried, died in a much larger proportion than the people who were married! The condition of the widowers was even worse!
This unique study carried out by William Farr was one of the first ones to suggest a link between marriage and good health. His study proved beyond a doubt that married people lived for a long time and were also much healthier.
More studies have been conducted since then and are being carried out every year. Almost all of them have come out with the following results:
Marriage improves mental health
Marriage has been irrevocably linked to better mental health. People who choose to get married are much less likely to get depressed than their single counterparts. The connection between marriage and health is multi-faceted. Several research studies have been conducted about this connection. One of the most significant research studies was carried out by US Department of Health and Human Services. Their study found that healthier people are more likely to get married.
Marriage decreases the chance of heart diseases in women
This might sound far-fetched, but it is true. Studies have shown that married women who have seen their parents getting divorced are far more likely to get a cardiovascular disease than women who have experienced a happy childhood. However, it is to be noted here that a married and a single woman both are at equal risk of getting a cardiovascular disease. But the married woman has a 14% higher chance of surviving the heart attack.
Beneficial for men
Marriage has proved to be physically beneficial for men because of three reasons:
- home-made food
- timely meals
- healthy ingredients.
Often wives are known to seek out and buy healthy products/items/vegetables for their men. And later they incorporate the same products into the meals they make for their husbands. Sometimes this is done without the husband’s knowledge because the latter is mostly ignorant about health benefits of food products. For example, many wives are known to add pumpkin paste (it is beneficial for the kidneys, lungs and the heart) into their cooking. Most men, on the other hand, have no idea how it benefits them.
When compared to other relationships
Other social relationships, such as live-in relationships or same-sex marriages also have a positive impact on health. But marriage still wins when it comes to impacting a person’s mental and physical health. This is because a married couple spends their lives doing a lot of activities together. They also share common resources.
